What You Call Winter by Nalini Jones

Author:Nalini Jones [Jones, Nalini]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-54919-8
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2007-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

When it was time to pick Vee up to go to the airport, Marian was still rushing through the house. Her tea mug was half filled on the counter, its contents cold—she swallowed it down on the way to the sink. Lights were on in the bedrooms, though sharp winter sunlight poured through the windows — she snapped them off, glancing at the state of the carpets, the unmade beds. She wished she’d had time to vacuum.

“You’ll turn out the lights when you’re not using them? Tara! Don’t forget!”

Daniel beeped the horn.

“No wearing makeup while I’m gone,” Marian warned. Nicole’s face hardened.

“You think your father won’t notice, but he’ll notice.”

“I won’t. I told you already.”

Marian hugged her, and for a moment it seemed as if Nicole’s body yielded in her arms. “Try to eat something decent every day, will you, darling? Don’t let Dad just bring you pizza. Tara, come and give me a kiss.”

They stood in the doorway as she left. It was cold and Nicole hugged her arms to her chest. Tara was solemn and round-cheeked, baby-faced still. They looked lonely—two small figures on the wide front porch. Everything was wide in the Midwest, even in the suburbs. The yards, winter-yellow, and the smooth-paved roads. The sedans and station wagons. The flattened vowels and broad-backed casseroles. Only the wind had a narrow edge. Marian looked up at the sky, the tatters of clouds and the hard blue overhead. Tree branches scratched up at it, bare and ridiculous in all that space. She turned again to her children and felt a sudden pang of doubt.

“We’ll be fine,” Daniel told her. “It’s only a few weeks.” He reversed out of the driveway and paused for a moment, lifting his hand to wave as if he were the one leaving.

“Wait!” Marian could see Nicole was calling out to them. “Hang on. Roll down the window!” She leaned over Daniel to hear. “What is it, darling?”

Her daughter had pushed her hands in the pockets of her jeans; her shoulders were hunched against the cold. “Tell Vee I said good-bye.”

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