Kaye didn’t talk to anyone anymore, not really. Not since Jillian stopped coming over. Jillian seemed to like her, really to like her, but then suddenly she was gone. Lindy went through friends like some people went through packs of gum, but it was Kaye who had ruined that friendship. That’s what Lindy said. Lindy said Allison had been so upset about the ear piercing that she wouldn’t let Jillian come over anymore. Kaye couldn’t understand why that had upset her. Why tiny little girls—even infants!—had pierced ears. She would never have signed the form if it had occurred to her that Allison didn’t want Jillian to get her ears pierced. Why hadn’t it occurred to her? The world confused her. It really did. Maybe it was because she didn’t have a mother to explain how things worked. Maybe her kids would be confused, too, since she didn’t know how to guide them through it. It made her sad to think of them going through life the same way she had.

She sank her head in the water. Her hair floated around her like that girl in the Shakespeare movie. If only she could just lie here until she froze over, like a giant ice cube. How long till Nick and the kids would notice she was gone? Summer?

She had a panicky thought. What if she threw out her mammogram paintings and someone dumped the trash on the lawn, like someone did the town hall trash last week? The Millers and the Davenport-Gardners would find them in the morning when they went to walk the dog. She imagined them all laughing together. She imagined the whole town laughing, their sides splitting. They’d tack them up on Lucy’s bulletin board as a joke. Talk about adding fuel to the Cox-hating flames.

She popped her head out of the water, into the cold air. She heard voices. Someone was talking practically right next to her, on the other side of the wooden lattice the Millers had put up between the yards.

“. . . the bastard.” That was Ted. No question who he was talking about.

“You both were acting like kids.”

“I was shoveling. How was it my fault?”

“Let it go. You’re going to have a coronary.” Allison.

“Snow in the face, WTF?”

“OMG. You sound like Jillian.”

“LOL,” he said, but neither of them did.

“I hate that guy,” he said.

“I know.”

“He’s trying to ruin my life. He is methodically trying to ruin my life.”

“So he’s taking the day off tomorrow?” Allison said.

“Who?”

“Terrance. I’m changing subjects.”

“I guess.”

“Was he suspended?”

“He had a couple leftover vacation days from last year. Dana said he had to ‘use it or lose it.’ Can you believe this? We have to go outside to get privacy around here anymore,” Ted said.