She left newspapers on his nightstand with apartments for rent circled in Matilda’s red crayons. She tried talking to him about it at night, but he got into the habit of sleeping so deeply underneath his pillows that when she turned to him, all she could see was a mound of bed linens. In the mornings, when he kissed her goodbye, she nuzzled his neck and whispered how wonderful it would be to have a place of their own. He punished her by ignoring her for the rest of the day and eating his dinner on a tray next to his mother. When she woke, gasping in the middle of the night, she would reach toward his side of the bed, but he was always gone. She didn’t need to look for him because she already knew that he was outside in the shed in the backyard.

Turning her focus on Barbara, she encouraged Matilda to play in front of the television, blocking Barbara’s view but all it did was make Barbara holler louder at the screen, which made Matilda cry and run out of the room. She poured milk down the drain at night so that there was none left for Barbara’s coffee in the morning and opened magic markers and tossed them into the wash. None of it worked because Tim replaced the milk and rewashed the stained laundry.

To try to make amends, Tim allowed her to return to work after he arranged for a neighbor they both trusted to watch Matilda. It infuriated Therese that all her hard-earned money was going to a babysitter when Barbara was perfectly capable of watching Matilda for free. Weeks passed, and, although she tried to put it out of her mind, she was consumed. Regardless of how creatively she plotted, the large lump bolted to the couch blocked their escape. There were two options—distract or eliminate. So Therese started buying her extra cartons of cigarettes.

It started innocently enough, but before long, Barbara began expecting the offering, stretching out her hand every afternoon. Therese delightedly emptied ashtrays that were filling at a much faster rate than before. Tim began to notice, too, and asked Barbara if she was ­smoking more than usual. She barked at him to keep quiet and Therese reminded him that his mother was under a great deal of stress because she wasn’t used to having a toddler underfoot all the time. Maybe, she said again, it would be better for all of them if they moved out. He lifted the newspaper he was reading until it covered his head and she smiled, satisfied.