The Glass Wives (27 page)

Today Nicole was at the far end of the hallway, wearing a gray skirt, white blouse, and pumps. She stood with a white-haired man in a dark suit clutching an accordion file as if it held top-secret information. A stroller was noticeably absent. It would have been inappropriate to bring Luca to the courthouse. Still, Evie hadn’t seen him in weeks and hoped to catch a glimpse. Babies always made her smile. Who was minding Luca? Maybe Nicole’s mother had gotten off the pathetic train long enough to watch her grandson before she packed them up to go back to the trailer park.

And then, Beth rounded the corner pushing Luca in his buggy.

Evie’s heart pounded. Beth walked toward her and, without stopping, reached out and tapped Evie’s arm. “It’s almost over.”

Evie grabbed Lisa’s arm as if it could stop her from fainting from uncertainty and panic.

“What the hell was that?” Lisa asked.

“I guess they’re best friends now.” Evie’s heart ached. She knew her friendship with Beth had changed, that it might be unsalvageable, but she never thought … well, she never thought a lot of things.

“I’m going to ask her what’s up,” Lisa said.

“No, stay here with me.”

“She is right though. It’s almost over.”

Evie looked at Nicole and her sister yanked her back. “Stop looking at her.”

“I can’t. You’re not going to go all Miss Manners on me and tell me staring is impolite, now are you?”

“Hardly. But you’re not taking your eyes off them. It looks like you care.”

All Evie cared about was what Beth was doing at the courthouse. Evie swallowed hard and focused her attention on Lisa’s open-toe pumps and pointed with her chin. “Should you be wearing those in April?”

Lisa lifted a foot and turned it side to side. “Open-toe is the new black.” She glanced at Evie’s feet. “Oh, um, sorry.”

Evie laughed. “At least I didn’t wear my Crocs.”

“Thank God for small favors and clearance racks.”

Evie laughed and clamped her hand over her mouth rather than risk impropriety in public.

The door to the courtroom opened. It was ten o’clock. Evie knew this didn’t mean the judge would be on time, but she could sit, breathe deep, relax. Nicole walked toward the door. The white-haired man was nowhere to be seen. Reaching the doorway, Nicole touched Evie’s arm. She jerked it away. Nicole looked at the floor and kept walking. Nicole had been solicitous at a few soccer games over the past few weeks, but here in the shadow of justice she withdrew her hand and tucked it into her pocket.

The courtroom was brown with varying shades of 1970s amber. The wood on the bench, tables, and the chairs’ armrests was clean but dull. Evie and Lisa sat in the second row, Nicole several rows back.

“When your case is called,” Lisa said, “we’ll stand up and go right in front of the bench.”

“I did that last time,” Evie said.

“That’s common for divorces. The judge doesn’t want any distractions, and most people have a hard time lying when they’re face-to-face with a judge. At least in civil cases. I guess we’ll see if the norm holds true for Nicole.”

“Will we be up there together?”

“You and Nicole? No. She’s the plaintiff and the burden of proof is on her. She has to prove that the life insurance was meant for Luca too. I’m guessing that’s what’s in that snazzy folder.”

“Okay.” Evie wrung her hands. They’d gone over all of this since Lisa’s arrival three days before, but now it was real. It was also public. Family court mimicked the family dysfunction with everyone in one room—mothers and fathers, some children, extended family, and a multitude of strangers. No matter why they were here, they were all reduced to a docket number. Most likely the defendants and the plaintiffs in the room were lost in their own dramas, not interested in Evie’s. She exhaled, feeling a little nauseous.

Everyone stood as Judge William Henry walked into the courtroom. He sat. Everyone else sat. The whispering resumed. The clerk shuffled papers and handed a stack to the judge, who leafed through the pile looking through trendy horn-rimmed glasses. Evie didn’t think judges should be trendy. She tapped her foot and her leg bounced. Lisa put her hand on Evie’s knee to both comfort and still her. “It’ll be over before you know it,” Lisa whispered into her sister’s ear.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Evie said without looking at her. Evie wondered if the people around her could hear her heartbeat.

A woman in the row ahead of them turned around issuing a silent reprimand. The room was abuzz with the squeaking of chairs, the rustle of papers, and an undercurrent of dismay. Evie just stared at the woman. Who appointed her hall monitor? Evie and Lisa were not the only ones whispering. Evie, tempted to stick out her tongue, just stared until the woman surrendered and turned around.

“Now why can’t you do that with Nicole?” Lisa asked.

“Do what?”

The woman shifted in her seat.

“Look like you mean business.”

“I did mean business when I kicked her out.”

“Right.”

The woman turned around again and pulled out the big guns. “Shh. Please. I don’t want to miss it when they call my name.”

“Sorry,” Evie said.

“You’re such a pushover,” Lisa said.

“No, I’m just trying to be considerate. Now shh.”

The clerk called the first case. Evie listened as an aunt fought for custody of her niece and nephew against their father. Could someone who wasn’t a parent win custody? Nicole wanted the twins’ money—did she want Sam and Sophie too because they were Richard’s kids? Could she sue for visitation rights? Or the house? What if she told the judge it was
her
house and she didn’t want to leave?

Evie whispered her fears to Lisa, who smacked her hand. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Evie wasn’t being ridiculous, she was being smart. During the second case she witnessed a minor become emancipated. The third, fourth, and fifth cases were updates for the judge—siblings who’d been in a car accident and were awarded settlements, a father defending himself against paying child support, a grandmother granted custody of her grandchildren because her daughter was a drug addict. Evie, who realized she’d dug her nails into her palm, unclenched her sweaty fists and looked around the courtroom. No sign of Beth.

The lawyers were neither savvy nor slick. They were either overweight or overtired. Some wore wrinkled jackets. Most were men, with worn, hard-sided briefcases. Fluorescent lighting made everyone look a little jaundiced; even Lisa’s skin had a yellow tinge, which of course coordinated with her broken-plaid St. John suit and Louboutin pumps.

The woman in front of them appeared before the judge alone. She handed a stack of papers to the clerk and stood with her feet more than shoulder-width apart. Her body language tried to say impenetrable force—instead Evie thought it said, “I have
feminine itch
.”

Evie etched the stance in her mind. She did not want to stand in front of a courtroom and look as if she were riding a horse. She had nothing to be ashamed of but was embarrassed nonetheless. This all seemed like a chair fight on
The Jerry Springer Show
. Nicole had the requisite tattoo and the crowd
was
a little dicey, so the image worked. Distracted, Evie watched the woman at the front of the room and wondered if today was the day Evie’s latest course would be set. She gulped. She’d focused so much on Nicole’s actions, she sometimes lost track of the bigger picture: selling the house, finding a full-time job, changing their lifestyle, and explaining to the kids why things were different—again. Evie’s pulse quickened as she noticed no one was standing at the front of the courtroom.

“Case FC-1016-P.
Glass vs. Glass,
” the clerk said.

“That’s us,” Lisa said.

Evie wanted to turn to the crowd and say, “Chat amongst yourselves.” She had listened to an hour of personal tribulations, financial woes, and family drama, but wanted no one hearing hers.

Lisa and Evie walked to the bench, jacket sleeves brushing together. Evie squelched her instinct to touch Lisa by taking a step to the left, leaving a foot between them.

The judge peered at the paperwork on his desk and motioned at the clerk. He tapped the papers in front of him.

“Will the plaintiff please approach the bench?”

Evie stared at Lisa. Lisa shrugged. This was not criminal court where both sides had to alert the other to evidence or witnesses. Evie could rally a town of character witnesses, she was sure of it. But Lisa said it wasn’t necessary. Evie should have followed her instinct and brought reinforcements.

The judge did not lift his eyes until Nicole was standing to the left of Evie.

“This case is dismissed,” Judge Henry said, looking at Nicole.

Evie turned to Lisa as the judge addressed them all, shifting his gaze between Lisa, Evie, and Nicole.

“The plaintiff has withdrawn the petition.”

Evie was not sure what had happened. She wanted someone to speak English.

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Lisa said. She grabbed Evie’s sleeve and led her down the aisle in an almost-run. Lisa pushed open the door with her body, and when the door closed, she slumped onto a chair against the wall. “You won. Your kids get their money.”

By that time Nicole was in the hall. Evie fancied herself rather bright, but she was still confused. She walked over to Nicole.

“What just happened?” It was a demand, not a question.

“I’m going home, Evie. You win.”

Was this a joke? A trick? Nicole wasn’t going after the kids’ money but she was taking Luca away from them? Evie’s neck muscles tightened in a precursor to a tension headache. She rolled her head around for relief.

“Why?”

“It doesn’t matter why. I told my mother we’re coming, and she’s fixing up my old room for Luca. She got what she wanted. You got what you wanted.” Nicole swallowed hard.

Evie did the same, imagining the secondhand smoke that would ravage Luca’s lungs while they shacked up in Super Granny’s double-wide, even though she didn’t know if Nicole’s mother smoked
or
lived in a double-wide.

Lisa led Evie away.

“I have no idea what just happened,” Evie said.

“Maybe I can explain.”

It was Alan.

*   *   *

Sitting on a bench between Alan and Evie, Lisa took the lead.

“I’ll tell you what happened. She chickened out. She’d have had to pay the lawyer whether or not the funds were awarded to Luca, and he probably told her she wasn’t going to win.”

“That’s only part of it.” Alan looked at Evie, who refused to meet his glance. “Do you want to know what happened?”

“Yes.”

“Beth invited her over—”

Evie put her head in her hands.

“I’m not finished,” Alan said. “Please listen.”

Lisa kissed her sister on the cheek and walked toward the elevator.

“Beth invited her over to convince her it was wrong to try to take this money from your kids.”

“How?” Evie tried to reconcile the image. Beth and Nicole talking about her. Beth defending Sam and Sophie. And Nicole listening.

Alan looked toward the window across the wide, marble hallway. Evie glanced over and saw Beth.

“You’ll have to ask my wife how. But before you do, I have something to say.”

Here it comes,
Evie thought.

“Beth is probably one of the best friends you’ll ever have. If you’re willing to throw it all away because of something that happened twenty-five years ago that is frankly none of your goddamn business, you’re more judgmental than I ever thought possible.” Alan paused, his brow sweating. He put his clenched fist on the seat between them and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I’m tired of Beth apologizing and feeling guilty for being honest. It’s how we met. It wasn’t ideal. But it happened. Get over it. And you need to think about something else. One day you’ll struggle with a choice you’re not proud of. One day you’ll do something you never thought you’d do. Are you absolutely sure you don’t want Beth standing by your side when that happens? I would if I were you.”

Alan should have been a lawyer.

*   *   *

Evie and Beth sat alone on the bench for what seemed like an hour, but was only thirty seconds.

“I’m sorry,” they said in unison.

“I was really shocked,” Evie said. “But I shouldn’t have been so mean. A little mean, maybe … for a minute…”

“I should have told you sooner.”

“Or never mentioned it at all.”

“Yeah, well, there’s that too.”

“What did you say to Nicole? And where’s Luca? And why were you here with him? I thought you totally traded me in. Which I would understand after how I behaved.”

“For Nicole? Nah. She’s too skinny.” Beth winked. Beth was size four when she was bloated. “I can tell you the whole story another time—but Luca, I just wanted to make sure that Nicole could focus today, and I took him so she could do what she had to do.”

“You did it for me.”

Beth tapped Evie’s shoulder with her own. “Of course I did it for you, silly. And I did it for us. Now let’s go celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?”

“You
won
.”

Nicole had said the same thing, and the words echoed in Evie’s ears.

Beth took her hand and they wrapped their fingers together like little girls.

“You’ll have college tuition for Sam and Sophie, money to help with expenses, you got the job at County, and Nicole will take Luca back to Iowa. It’s everything you wanted.”

Getting everything she wanted made Evie a little queasy.

Chapter 21

“H
OW COME WE DON’T LIVE
near any family besides Nicole and Luca?” Sophie asked, tucked in for the night, lying on her back but up on her elbows. The night-light glowed on one wall, but it was bright enough for Evie to see her daughter’s head tilt in curiosity.

Evie knew Sophie’s questions stemmed from a few days with Lisa and from missing Nicole and Luca. The kids didn’t like when the two moved out, and they never wanted their Aunt Lisa to leave. Still, Sophie’s cuteness and innocence exacerbated Evie’s sense of guilt.

Guilt?
Evie saved their college funds and their home. She got a job. What did she have to feel guilty about? And why do children know exactly the wrong time to ask a question?