The Wentworths by Katie Arnoldi

Author:Katie Arnoldi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABRAMS Books
Published: 2010-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

When Gus looked at Maggie he still saw that seventeen-year-old girl with the clear, clear brown eyes and the brilliant smile. She was frozen there in time for him, so full of life and possibilities. Part of his brain registered the fact that Maggie’s skin was papery now, thin and vulnerable. Her lips were no longer full in the way they’d been in high school and her hair was not that same deep lustrous brown. But as he reached across the table to take her hand, it was the Maggie of his boyhood, the beautiful Maggie of his young dreams whom he sought to comfort. He had always loved this girl and part of him always would.

“How you holding up?” Gus took her hand.

“She is holding up just fine.” Judith took Maggie’s other hand. “Aren’t you, Maggie?”

Sometimes Gus wished that Judith would just evaporate. A little puff of wind and she’d be gone. His wife’s whining voice and constant nagging tore at him over the years, physically, and now she was like the chronic but not quite lethal ailments that he suffered on a daily basis. Judith was his arthritic hip, his achy low back, his very painful tennis elbow. There was no cure for Judith, just pain medication and a stiff upper lip.

“I’m going to be fine,” Maggie said. She withdrew her hands and put them in her lap. “Thank you both for inviting me. I don’t seem to want to leave the house very much. I don’t want to do much of anything except sleep, but I know that will change. Eventually. I’ll be fine.”

That’s what Gus liked about Maggie, she was straightforward. Ask her a question and she’d give you an honest answer. No drama, no silliness.

It was awful, David dying. He was too young, wasn’t he? Wasn’t this too soon? It seemed very unfair to Gus, and it scared him that his group of friends, these lifetime companions, were entering that final stage where memories became the focal point and the future no longer seemed so sure. He wanted to hug Maggie and tell her he’d always loved her. He wanted to cry with her over David’s death but instead took a good long pull on his scotch and let his thoughts drift to more immediate problems while Judith took over the conversation.

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