Girls with Bright Futures by Tracy Dobmeier

Author:Tracy Dobmeier
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2020-11-13T00:00:00+00:00

20

Maren

After a full day spent catching up on paperwork and shuttling back and forth between the kitchen and Winnie’s bedroom, Maren had just turned on the stove to heat up a carton of tomato soup for dinner when the doorbell rang. Tiptoeing to the door, she peered through the cloudy peephole. On the other side was the distorted face of Kelly Vernon, clearly trying to get a reverse glimpse through the looking glass. Until this fall, Maren had always thought of Kelly as an annoying but basically harmless ninny. But maybe she had underestimated Kelly. Perhaps she was more like those no-see-um bugs Maren used to dread as a kid when her parents took her to Florida on vacation—you barely noticed them until suddenly you’d been bitten a hundred times. Or your kid had been run off the road. All Maren wanted to do was eat her soup and go to bed, but instead, she smoothed her hair and straightened her back as she unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door. “Hi, Kelly, what a surprise.”

“Hi, Maren. Amanda set up a meal train for you guys, and I took the first slot. Sorry for not texting first, but I brought you this Costco lasagna. How’s Winnie’s feeling? We’re all so worried about her.”

Kelly’s face was studiously grim, her lips drooping awkwardly at the corners and eyebrows so pinched that the overall effect resembled an excruciating piece of performance art. But at least she came bearing free food. “Gosh, thank you. Do you want to come in?” Please say no.

“Oh! I don’t want to intrude! But OK, maybe just for a minute,” Kelly said, already several steps into the living room, which doubled as the front entry in their small but tidy home. Kelly took in the entire house with one glance, her eyes landing on the boot tray by the door with Winnie’s and Maren’s shoes neatly arranged. She appeared to be weighing whether she should remove her sneakers as Maren had seen her do so automatically at Alicia’s house. “Oops—sorry about my shoes! I’ll only stay a minute.” She must have decided worrying about disgusting street germs was a luxury of wealth, sort of like buying organic.

“Thank you for thinking of us. Here, let me take that off your hands.” Maren’s arms almost gave way under the weight of the massive tray. “This will definitely come in handy, especially once Winnie is back to solid foods.” She walked into the kitchen with Kelly at her heels and set the frozen tray of lasagna on the counter. It would never fit into Maren’s freezer, and probably not even into her apartment-sized oven. But if she let it thaw a bit, she could slice it into serving size pieces and refreeze the extra portions.

“Oh! I didn’t hear all the details of her injuries,” Kelly said. “Did she break her jaw?”

“No, thank goodness. But the side of her face is covered in road rash and bruises, so she’s really sore.” Maren snuck a peek at the closed bedroom door and prayed Winnie would stay put.

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