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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

She removed her headphones. She’d been listening to a Bon Iver song that seemed specifically designed to amplify melancholy. I repeated my question, but she declined my suggestions of ice cream, chocolate, whiskey.

Still, I lingered. I thought I should tell her what Atlas had found, not least because she deserved to know, but also because I was curious if she could’ve suspected. “I just—I think—” Despite my stumbling, Wallis was patient. She raised her eyebrows. “Did you—did you know that Gregory...?” Her phone rang, an interruption that managed to be both frustrating and welcome. She grabbed for it eagerly, then emitted a choked groan when she saw it was not Blake on the ID. Whoever was calling must’ve been really deficient, because she silenced the call and threw her wrist across her face.

“Let me be, Dodo,” she said softly. “I’m sure Blake and I will figure out a way to see each other soon. And I’m going to be better then. All right?”

How could I detonate this hope of happiness? It doesn’t have to be today, I told myself. I can sleep on it.

I washed up in Cricket’s bathroom, amazed at her ongoing love affair with impractically tiny hand towels, and returned to the hallway. Cricket had taken my position in the doorway to Wallis’s room. They must not have heard me emerge, because they were talking about Atlas, and their tones, although hushed, still carried.

“Here’s what needs to happen,” Wallis was saying. “One of them needs to act just the slightest bit in love, and the other will admit that they, too, have been in love the entire time. But Atlas is not cooperating with my plan. He talks to us both like we’re his sisters. I’m annoyed with him.”

“And Daisy, too,” Cricket said. “She barely gives him any encouragement.”

With their judgment, as well-meaning as it might’ve been, whatever optimism was leftover from Atlas’s visit drained from my body. “I’m going.” I decided I should alert them to my presence. Cricket turned, and had the decency to at least look mildly abashed. It was, I had to admit, a fitting way to end the evening.

Eighteen

I’d been away from work for twenty-one days, and with every passing hour my inner alarm howled louder. All week, I’d been unsuccessful getting Miles on the phone. Bo had tried, but Miles always had a ready excuse. He says he’s just walking into a meeting. He’s just about to hop on the phone. He’s getting ready for dinner. Each morning, I thought, today. Today he’ll call and tell me to come back.