The day they moved into the apartment, Mark brought Lauren a turtle. “Here,” he said, like he had just found it in the hal . “A turtle to replace the fish.”
Lauren took the plastic container and looked at the little turtle. She had always wanted one.
“I’l have to go to the pet store,” Lauren said. “I don’t even know what a turtle needs.”
“What are you going to name it?” Mark asked.
“I’m not sure,” Lauren said. She put the box on the table and they stared at it. “Maybe Rudy?” she said. She considered it. It was definitely a possibility. A possibility now, where it hadn’t been before.
“Until the what?” Isabel a asked. “Until what turns?”
“The worm,” her mom said. “It’s an expression.” She sounded tired of Isabel a. Isabel a didn’t blame her. She was tired of herself.
“Okay, Mom. I should go. I need to update my resume.” This was sort of a lie and sort of not. Isabel a did need to update her resume. But she wasn’t going to do it when she got off the phone. She just needed to stop talking to her mother. They said good-bye and hung up. Isabel a sat in the apartment and stared at the dog. Should she go to the gym? It was two-thirty p.m. on a Tuesday. Did people go to the gym at that time? The dog stared back at Isabel a. He seemed to know she was lying about her resume.
“What?” Isabel a asked him. He sighed and lay down on the floor.
“Sometimes,” Mary said, “when people get fired, they end up getting amazing new jobs. It forces people to get out there and find what they want to do.”
“But I already found what I want to do,” Isabel a said. “And it just so happens that I picked a failing industry. I’m never going to get another job like I had. They won’t even exist anymore.”
“Yeah,” Mary said. “I guess that’s true.” She shifted on the couch, leaning back and then swaying from side to side.
“Are you al right?” Isabel a asked.
“Yeah,” Mary said. “It’s just if I don’t have this freaking baby soon, I’m going to rip open my stomach.”
“Oh,” Isabel a said. “Wel , if that’s al .”
“Maybe you should take a shower,” Harrison suggested after he touched the top of her head. She had been in bed for three days. “It’s kind of starting to smel in here.”
“That’s so mean,” she said. “That is so mean, Harrison.”
“I know.” He hugged her, and when she reached up to wipe her tears away, she touched her greasy hair. It felt like wax. A shower, she decided, wasn’t such a bad idea.
“Okay,” she said. “I’l take a shower.” She went and stood underneath the hot water with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes closed.
She stood there until there was so much steam in the bathroom that she couldn’t see. Afterward, she put on clean sweatpants and brushed her newly washed hair.
“Don’t you feel better?” Harrison asked.
“Yes,” Isabel a said. “I do.” And she did. But she stil slept for most of the day. She just hid it from Harrison better than she had before. When his alarm clock went off, she got up and poured herself a cup of coffee and then sat on the couch and watched the
“Just job searching,” she would say when he got home.
“You look queer,” Isabel a said to Harrison when he walked in the door. She had never used that word to describe anyone before, but when she saw him that night, it was the only word that was right. “You look queer,” she said again.
Harrison looked at her out of the sides of his eyes and went to get a beer from the fridge. He opened it and leaned his hands against the counter but stil didn’t speak. Isabel a began to get scared. He was going to leave her. Or tel her that he was having an affair. Or that he had a baby. He took a sip of his beer and then said, “They’re downsizing my division.”
It took Isabel a a moment to realize that he was talking about his job. She had been so ready to hear that he had a secret baby that she was almost relieved. Then she realized what he’d said.
“Wait. Are you being downsized? You, yourself?”
Harrison shrugged. “They aren’t real y saying. They’re being real y shady about the whole thing. But my boss did pul me into his office to tel me that there are opportunities for me in the Boston office.”
