Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer

Author:Lauren McBrayer [McBrayer, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-04-26T00:00:00+00:00

JANE: i know ur with Jude but if u have a sec i need ur tech support

Merit called her.

“Hey,” she said when Jane picked up. “I’m not with Jude. I lied when I said I was getting him. What’s up?”

“Wait—what?”

“He’s still at school. I left because I was sad about you leaving. And then Cory made me even more sad. So now I’m sobbing in a church pew by myself.”

“Seriously?”

Merit wiped her nose on her sleeve so Jane wouldn’t hear her sniff. “Regrettably, yes.”

“Little bird.”

“It’s fine. You caught me off guard is all. And my husband has a knack for making me feel like shit. But I’m available for tech support, just tell me what you need.”

“Do they let heathens into this church of yours?”

She thought about telling Jane not to come. But pretending she was fine suddenly felt like too much work.

“They do,” she said.

“Text me the address. I’m on my way.”

Twenty minutes later, Merit heard the heavy door open behind her, and then Jane’s presence filled the room. The sound of her heels on the stone floor. The snap of her gum. Then, the flurry of familiar smells. The musky sandalwood of her perfume. The lavender hand lotion she kept in her bag and had no doubt just reapplied. Her cinnamon gum. Merit could even smell her lipstick, the only makeup Jane consistently wore, Yves Saint Laurent Le Nu.

Merit closed her eyes and breathed her in. She remembered how the phone in her parents’ house always smelled like drugstore lipstick and Chanel No. 5, and how as a child she would sometimes pick up the receiver just to breathe her mother in.

“I haven’t been struck dead yet,” Jane said as she slid into the pew next to her. “Maybe God likes me better than I thought.” She turned her head and looked at Merit. “So what are we doing here?”

“We’re not sure.”

“Okay. What happened with Cory?”

“Nothing.”

“Merit.”

“It’s too demoralizing to talk about.”

“Does it involve his sleeping with a sixty-one-year-old chef?”

Merit, indelicately, laughed. “I’m sorry,” she said immediately, bringing her hand to her mouth.

But Jane was laughing, too. Soon they were shaking with it, clutching their sides, unable to breathe. Merit couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed like this. It reminded her of helium, or a lantern, or warm rain.

“It’s all going to be okay, you know,” Jane said when they’d recovered. She took Merit’s hand and held it in her lap. “We’ll see each other all the time. And you and Cory will figure it out.”

Merit studied their hands. Jane’s French manicure. Her own bare nails. The gold watch Jane never took off. Merit’s wedding ring.

“When did you become such an optimist?” she heard herself ask.

Jane laid her head on Merit’s shoulder. “When I met you.”

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