Emma's Table by Philip Galanes

Author:Philip Galanes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061982545
Publisher: HarperCollins

Emma had left Bobby in bed that morning, sleeping as soundly as he always did, the rise and fall of his slumbering chest in perfect time with the little puffs of air he spat—puh, puh, puh—all night long, like a speech therapist demonstrating the most perfect p imaginable.

It didn’t annoy her either.

She liked having her husband in bed beside her. She wasn’t much of a sleeper still, but she slept much better since he’d come back home. No question about that. She didn’t even mind it when he flung a sleeping arm over her chest, like a protective mother driving toward an amber light. It startled her awake every time, but it was something like a comfort to her too.

She’d slipped out of bed as gently as she could and walked straight to the dining room. She wanted to see how the new housekeeper had made out—her inspection like a consolation prize, a gift-wrapped package with a silky white bow. She might not be able to lie in bed with her husband, like every other woman in the world, but she could do this, at least: she could see if the new girl had returned the place to any semblance of order.

She hadn’t, of course—not at all.

There were water marks on the sideboard, and a brand-new chip in the Limoges. She saw cookie crumbs on the carpet as big as her fist, and a cell phone beneath the chair where Benjamin sat.

“Perfect!” she growled. “The only blind housekeeper in America.”

She felt herself spinning out of control.

Emma scoured the room for something—anything—the girl might have done right, but there was nothing. She climbed down onto her hands and knees, fingering up a bushel of cookie crumbs and a gargantuan piece of roasted carrot.

She’d have to vacuum later.

Then she picked up the cell phone from beneath Benjamin’s chair, lying dark as an iguana, blending into the faded pattern of the old Persian rug. It didn’t blend near well enough to elude Emma though. That phone called out to her as loudly as if it were ringing.

Benjamin was in such a rush to get out of here, she remembered—wanting to flee the dustup that Cassy caused—that she wouldn’t be surprised to find his hat and coat in the hall closet. He would have left his shoes, she thought, if it would have gotten him out of here any faster.

Emma walked back to Bobby’s office with the cell phone in her hands. She’d have her husband messenger it to him later—at the elementary school, she thought, nearly rolling her eyes at the thought of the place.

Cassy might have had a point—about that, at least.

Emma wouldn’t be seeing Benjamin again until Friday afternoon. He’d need his phone by then. She laid it down on Bobby’s desk, at the center of the green leather blotter, then turned to leave, walking as far as the doorway before she changed her mind.

He’ll just leave it there, she thought—Bobby would—if it’s just sitting out like that. Emma didn’t know

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