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Back The Mother Next Door Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. HALLOWEEN
  6. Seven Weeks Before Halloween
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. HALLOWEEN
  11. Six Weeks Before Halloween
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. HALLOWEEN
  16. Five Weeks Before Halloween
  17. SEVEN
  18. EIGHT
  19. HALLOWEEN
  20. NINE
  21. TEN
  22. HALLOWEEN
  23. ELEVEN
  24. TWELVE
  25. Twenty-Five Days Until Halloween
  26. THIRTEEN
  27. FOURTEEN
  28. HALLOWEEN
  29. FIFTEEN
  30. SIXTEEN
  31. SEVENTEEN
  32. EIGHTEEN
  33. NINETEEN
  34. TWENTY
  35. HALLOWEEN
  36. Eighteen Days Until Halloween
  37. TWENTY-ONE
  38. TWENTY-TWO
  39. HALLOWEEN
  40. TWENTY-THREE
  41. TWENTY-FOUR
  42. Eleven Days Until Halloween
  43. TWENTY-FIVE
  44. TWENTY-SIX
  45. Eight Days Until Halloween
  46. TWENTY-SEVEN
  47. TWENTY-EIGHT
  48. TWENTY-NINE
  49. HALLOWEEN
  50. THIRTY
  51. Four Days Until Halloween
  52. THIRTY-ONE
  53. HALLOWEEN
  54. THIRTY-TWO
  55. Two Days Until Halloween
  56. THIRTY-THREE
  57. The Night Before Halloween
  58. THIRTY-FOUR
  59. HALLOWEEN
  60. THIRTY-FIVE
  61. Halloween, Present Day
  62. THIRTY-SIX
  63. THIRTY-SEVEN
  64. HALLOWEEN
  65. THIRTY-EIGHT
  66. HALLOWEEN
  67. THIRTY-NINE
  68. HALLOWEEN
  69. FORTY
  70. HALLOWEEN
  71. FORTY-ONE
  72. FORTY-TWO
  73. FORTY-THREE
  74. FORTY-FOUR
  75. HALLOWEEN... NOW
  76. FORTY-FIVE
  77. Seven Months Later
  78. FORTY-SIX
  79. FORTY-SEVEN
  80. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  81. ALICE SWANSON’S
  82. Reader's Guide
  83. Questions for Discussion
  84. Booklist

It’s a fact: swim moms look younger. We get free facials sitting by the humid indoor pool for hours. We aren’t exposed to UVA rays like the soccer or baseball moms. We may spend hours inhaling chlorine fumes, but at least we don’t have to deal with lightning or snow. And unlike the wrestling moms, our meets aren’t in gymnasiums stinking of sweat.

I climbed to the top of the bleachers and watched the boys warm up for the meet. Cole was a great swimmer, broad shoulders, long arms that sliced through the water like daggers. He was best at short runs and currently held the school record in the fifty-meter freestyle, beating out Bo Lewis by less than one second. It was electrifying to watch him race.

Some parents seemed to think their children’s sports or other activities were a burden, complaining at every turn about where they had to be and when, like it was a chore. My mom had been that way. She’d hardly ever gone to my softball games or theater productions, bitching about how hard the bleachers were to sit on or how crowded the high school auditorium was. My mother had made sure my sister and I knew we were her “burdens to bear,” and I’d sooner eat glass than ever make my kids feel that way. I tried my best to get to every one of their events—whether Sam’s concerts and marching band halftime shows, or Cole’s swim meets.

I opened my email. As communications director for the local hospital, I had to constantly check in. You never knew when a malpractice suit would hit, or a research breakthrough would go big. During Cole’s events, I’d often bring my laptop to knock off a few press releases or media pitches or proofread an invitation to a research symposium. To survive as a working mom, you needed to multitask.

Nothing urgent in my email, so I scrolled through Facebook. A college friend just returned from a Hawaii vacation. Another friend had posted dozens of photos of her annoyingly adorable Portuguese water dog. The usual hateful political posts from Paul’s niece.

Alice had also forwarded us the message from “Ivy Woods.”

Does what you did keep you up at night, Alice?

Uh-oh! I hear a buzzing sound around your hive...

Better watch out!

It was ridiculous, even more so when not read outside in the dark next to a fire. Beyond the childish taunt, the excessive use of exclamation points annoyed me.