“Wel , I dreamt that Ken was marrying this big black woman. And he kept saying, ‘Sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry. We can stil be together, but I have to marry her.’ And I was crying, and then the woman came over and started fighting me. I bit her ankle, and then I woke up to Ken screaming.”
“That is real y weird,” Isabel a said.
“I know. What if that’s what I do now? What if I just keep biting Ken in my sleep?”
“I don’t think that wil happen,” Isabel a said.
“It might. Plus, I’m a bad mom.”
“No, you aren’t,” Isabel a told her. “Where did that come from?”
Mary sighed. “Henry was sick last week, and I didn’t even notice. He was rubbing his ear on the floor and whining,
“So? You took him to the doctor in time.”
“I guess so. Now I feel bad for leaving him this weekend.”
“I pushed someone on the subway last week,” Isabel a told her.
“Real y?” Mary asked.
“Yeah, it just happened. Does that make you feel better?”
“Yeah, it kind of does.”
Lauren bought about a mil ion bottles of wine for the house, and when everyone walked in they said, “Oh, that is too much wine. We’l never get through that.”
“I planned for five bottles a girl for the weekend,” Lauren said. “Believe me, we’l go through it.”
“No,” everyone said. “No, that’s too much.” By the second night, more than half of it was gone and everyone stopped talking about it.
Beth White talked the whole weekend. From the moment she got there, she went on about her divorce. “Such a hard decision,” she said. “But I’m in a much better place now.”
Isabel a tried to avoid getting caught alone with her. “I know she needs to talk about this,” she said to Lauren, “but she has a therapist, right?”
Lauren shrugged. “God, I hope so. I know way too much about their bedroom life now. Way too much.”
“I’m not changing my name back,” Beth told them. “I thought about it, but I’m going to stay Beth White.” Isabel a didn’t think this was a wise decision.
“Why wouldn’t she go back to Beth Bauer?” she asked Lauren. “She doesn’t have any kids. It’s so weird.”
“I don’t know,” Lauren said. “Maybe she’s afraid no one wil remember who she is.”
“Maybe,” Isabel a said. The thought left her uneasy.
The last night, they went out to a seafood restaurant. They returned to the house stuffed and tired. Everyone was drinking wine and talking when they noticed that Beth White was crying in the corner.
Her head was down and her shoulders were shaking. She was crying so hard that no one could understand what she was saying. “What happened?” Mary whispered to Isabel a. She just shook her head. “I have no idea,” she said. They sat and listened to Beth gasping for breath.
“She’s choking,” Isabel a thought. She tried to remember the proper steps for CPR in case they needed to use it. They al stood around and watched until Isabel a stepped forward and knelt in front of her. She touched Beth’s leg and said, “This is a normal reaction.” Lauren was standing to her right and shook her head at Isabel a. Final y, their friend Sal ie took Beth by the arm and walked her upstairs. The rest of them dispersed in silence. No one wanted to talk about what they had just seen.
Mary and Isabel a sat on the porch, and Isabel a smoked a cigarette. “I thought you quit,” Mary said.
“I did,” Isabel a said. “This is an emergency.”
“I don’t real y miss smoking as much as I used to,” Mary said.
“You sound disappointed,” Isabel a said. Mary shrugged.
“Where’s your wine?” Isabel a asked her.
“Oh, I left it inside, I guess.”
“Are you pregnant?”
“What?”
“Oh, my God, you are! You’re pregnant, you fucker.”
“Most people say congratulations.”
“I can’t believe you’re pregnant!”
Mary smiled and looked embarrassed but pleased. “It’s real y early. I haven’t even told my mom. I’m like, three days pregnant.”
“Wow,” Isabel a said, “you’re going to have two kids. You’re going to have two kids before I’m married.”
“I wish you were pregnant too,” Mary said to her.
