The Antidote for Everything by Kimmery Martin

Author:Kimmery Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-02-17T16:00:00+00:00

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Saturday morning, Georgia met Jonah for breakfast and a vigorous discussion of his situation. After that, granted a rare respite from work, she spent most of the day in her backyard workshop, tinkering with the hidden compartment in a cabinet she was building. At sundown, she curled up in bed with a book, trying to curb her anxiety about what Jonah might be doing. She flicked the pages until midnight, when she found herself in a fitful daze, not quite asleep but not quite awake. Exhaustion hung over her, but she could not rest; some corner of her brain buzzed with worry. She set down the novel she’d been reading and picked up her Bible, reading until she fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning, Sunday, she met Darby for an early run.

After, she watched through a window of the back deck of Darby’s home as Darby went indoors and stretched. She looked up as Georgia came in and plopped down at the kitchen table. “So I can be more productive and more intentional with my time,” Darby said, jerking her head toward her phone, which she’d just tucked away in a drawer.

“Excellent idea,” said Georgia, even though she’d sooner stab herself in the eyeball than separate from her phone. Hiding their phones was the sort of thing overscheduled married people did, along with employing phrases like more intentional with my time. “Jonah should be here before long to pick me up. Thanks again for the run.”

“Don’t thank me,” Darby said. “Stick around for a little while. Jonah too. Last night I told the kids we’d have some company this morning, and they can’t wait. They love to have visitors.” As if to illustrate this, they heard an excited squeal and an answering adult voice in a distant part of the house. Matt and the girls were up.

“We have about five minutes before they descend and eat us alive,” she said now, grinning at Georgia as if Georgia were doing her a favor. “Let’s hide.”

Before she could answer, Darby carried her cup of coffee outdoors onto the deck. After a moment, Georgia followed her outside, where bright tendrils of sunlight shot from beneath a cloud onto the glinting waters of the marsh.

“You okay?” Darby leaned, stiff-armed, against the railing next to her.

Before she could respond, two small blurs raced past her, doubled back, and exploded onto her lap. “Mommy!”

Darby pulled her older two daughters into her arms. They looked like Darby: small and lithe with spindly limbs and big sleepy green eyes. No one would ever mistake them for anything other than her daughters.

The younger child of the two turned to Georgia. “Hi,” she said. “Can I sit on your lap?”

“Sure,” said Georgia, nonplussed. She sat down on a deck chair, and to her surprise, both girls piled into her lap, looking at her expectantly. Now what? “Hey there, varmints,” she said, after a moment’s pause, thumping her knees up and down so they bounced. “What’s shaking?”

The little one giggled.

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