BooksBarbecue
Back Ladies of the House Save as PDF
Chapters (59)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Praise
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. January
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. February
  13. Six
  14. Seven
  15. Eight
  16. Nine
  17. Ten
  18. Eleven
  19. Twelve
  20. March
  21. Thirteen
  22. Fourteen
  23. Fifteen
  24. Sixteen
  25. April
  26. Seventeen
  27. Eighteen
  28. Nineteen
  29. Twenty
  30. Twenty-One
  31. Twenty-Two
  32. Twenty-Three
  33. Twenty-Four
  34. Twenty-Five
  35. May
  36. Twenty-Six
  37. Twenty-Seven
  38. Twenty-Eight
  39. Twenty-Nine
  40. Thirty
  41. Thirty-One
  42. June
  43. Thirty-Two
  44. Thirty-Three
  45. Thirty-Four
  46. Thirty-Five
  47. Thirty-Six
  48. Thirty-Seven
  49. Thirty-Eight
  50. Thirty-Nine
  51. Forty
  52. July
  53. Forty-One
  54. Epilogue
  55. Acknowledgments
  56. Author’s Note
  57. Ladies of the House - Reader’s Guide
  58. Questions For Discussion
  59. Excerpt

We were quiet for a time, listening to the drone of bugs and chattering of children. My announcement had made only a minor ripple in the summer air; people were now back to their regularly scheduled playground business, not sparing us another glance. There was reassurance in the reminder that I was just another random person in the world. I could do something silly in public and it wouldn’t really matter, in the end.

June

June

Thirty-Two

Ari marched into my office in a coral body-hugging dress and navy blazer, her hair in a no-nonsense bun. She had emailed late the night before, saying it was urgent.

“Coffee?” I asked after we did the required hug.

“I don’t suppose you have an espresso machine?” she said as she placed herself in one of the chairs across from my desk.

I almost laughed but then realized she was serious. “This is the government. We have a tub of Maxwell House.”

“In that case, I’ll decline.”

I closed the door, though it was seven thirty in the morning and we were the only two there. Since the meeting with Melinda Darley and Co. last month, I’d always made sure I was in first. Sara would come in next, followed by Bo, but hopefully this was early enough to squirrel Ari out before anyone discovered she’d been there. I didn’t know the reason for her request, but the terseness of her email led to me to believe this wouldn’t be another friendly chat. Was she upset about Atlas showing up drunk at my apartment? He’d told me a funny story, went home to his bed, and I went back to mine. A couple of weeks passed. Roll credits.

“I appreciate you coming so early,” I said. “I have to go to the Bowie office today.” It was a torturous assignment—the Bowie office was full of well-intentioned yet notorious time-wasters and slackers-off—but at least Miles wasn’t sending me to basement meetings anymore, thanks in no small measure to the success of Literacy Week. If I could keep making myself useful, delivering respectable victories, both legislative and otherwise, I just might be able to scrape and claw my way back. Which is to say, I could leave what happened in the past there, and focus on improvements for the future.

“Bowie?” Ari made a face: ew.

She didn’t take her eyes off me as I fell into my seat and folded my hands on my desk, near my phone. I doubted anyone would call me at this hour, but I wanted to be quick on the draw in case someone might rescue me and allow me to excuse myself. “You were rather cryptic in your email,” I said. “What did you need to talk to me about?”