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Back The Wrong Family Save as PDF
Chapters (46)
  1. Praise
  2. Booklist
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. Part Two
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. Part Three
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. EPILOGUE
  42. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  43. Reader’s Guide
  44. Discussion Questions
  45. The Wrong Family Author Q & A
  46. The Wives

Can’t, he texted back. I have that work conference.

Winnie vaguely remembered something about a work conference, but he’d been complaining about going.

Get out of it

Can’t

Can’t or won’t?

Both…?

She was furious at him for that question mark because she could see his expression as he typed it—stick it to the wife, it said.

Where is the conference?

His answer came back impressively fast, so fast that he couldn’t have made it up on the fly…or could he? If he’d planned it…

Puyallup

Wow. Okay. Priorities.

Winnie was so angry she tossed her phone in her purse and didn’t look at it again until lunchtime. Didn’t he understand that they needed this? It was like he wasn’t making any effort at all to be a family lately. When she finally dug her phone from underneath all of her crap, she was sitting in Lola’s with two of her coworkers, sipping coffee and working on a pastry.

Just seeing his name made her feel angry all over again, but after reading his text she excused herself to the bathroom to read it again.

I’m really trying here, Winnie. I can drive you up. Spend Saturday and Sunday with you before I have to head back. That’s the best I can do for now.

She nodded at the empty stall. Okay…she could work with that. She’d pack her pot, of course, she’d need it up at the cabin with Shelly.

21

JUNO

In the sixties, Juno’s mother had owned a beauty salon called The Slick. Back then, women drove from all over the county to visit Hoida Pearl at her salon for a Vidal Sassoon cut, incredibly radical for the time. The salon was in a strip mall with a five and dime, a laundromat, and a butcher. Salon, chores, dinner, the women in the community joked—all in one! Juno spent many weekends and afternoons at the salon, washing and folding the towels for her mother, listening to the ladies talk. She learned that if they noticed her presence they’d share looks, pointing her out with their eyes. “Young ears in the room!” one of them would sing, and then her mother would sashay over to the register, her heels clipping on the tiled floor. Juno would hear the whoosh of the money drawer as it opened, followed by the clink of change as Hoida scooped some out. It was then that Juno understood that she was being dismissed and bribed all in one.

“An ice cream for you, mija, and cigarettes for me.” The change was cold in her palm.