Chapter 3
The doorbell rang while I was putting away the dishes in the kitchen.
It was a little after seven in the evening when Michael went to answer the door. It was Emily Grant and David Bright.
The moment Emily stepped inside, she shouted, "Michael, congrats. You finally came to your senses."
She walked in on her stiletto heels, dropped onto the couch, tossed her long hair over her shoulder, and crossed her legs.
David followed behind her with a bag of oranges and gave me a nod toward the kitchen. "Hey, Evelyn."
I didn't respond and kept wiping down the stovetop.
Emily's voice carried across the living room. "Michael, you finally made the right call. You know what Mr. Carter from your company said about you? 'Michael has everything going for him, except his wife makes him look bad.'
"Can you believe that? If you're not embarrassed by that, I am."
Michael sat at the other end of the couch. "Emily, keep your voice down."
"I was not wrong." She lowered her voice a little, but she was still clearly enjoying herself. "Listen, there's this new client manager at our company, Lucy Quinn.
"She's gorgeous, comes from a good family, graduated from Silverpine University, and drives a white Audi. I told her I could introduce her to a decent guy, and she was pretty interested."
"We're not divorced yet." Michael frowned.
"Won't you be divorced tomorrow?" Emily rolled her eyes. "Michael, you're such a stick in the mud. What's wrong with checking out your options a little early? Evelyn's not the petty type, right, Evelyn?"
She hollered the last part over to me in the kitchen.
I rinsed out the cloth, wrung it dry, and hung it back on the rack. "No."
Emily's smile faltered. "What?"
"You said I'm not the petty type." I walked out of the kitchen. "You're right. I'm not. But if you're here picking out your brother's next girlfriend in front of me, there's no need to pretend we're family anymore."
The living room fell silent.
David was the first to break the awkward silence. "Evelyn, don't take it to heart. Emily just talks fast. She doesn't mean anything by it."
"I know." I took a plastic bag from the shoe cabinet, then arranged the oranges on the fruit plate. "Wash them before you eat them."
The discomfort on Emily's face flickered for a moment before she quickly composed herself and put on a more serious, concerned tone. "Evelyn, I'm saying this for your own good. Getting divorced is the best thing for everyone.
"I know these past four years have been hard on you, but think about it. You've spent all this time at home taking care of an elderly person.
"You don't make any money, you barely see anyone, and you've grown completely out of step with Michael."
She glanced at Michael. "I'm not trying to criticize you, Michael. But didn't you go to the company annual dinner alone last year? Why didn't you bring Evelyn? You know the answer yourself."
Michael said nothing. His silence was as good as an admission.
David rubbed his hands together. "Michael's doing pretty well for himself. He makes well tens of thousands a year, owns a house and a car, and he's still young and presentable. Once he's divorced, he won't have any trouble starting over."
"Exactly." Emily slapped the arm of the couch.
Suddenly, there was a commotion from Margaret's room.
She had probably heard them talking outside and was now tapping the edge of the bed with her left hand as she called out in a slurred voice. "Emily? Is Emily here?"
"Mom." Emily called back loudly before quickly lowering her voice and turning to Michael. "By the way, what are we going to do about Mom? Who's going to take care of her after the divorce?"
"We'll hire a caregiver," Michael said.
"Live-in caregivers cost around 2,000 to 2,300 dollars a month these days." David sucked his teeth.
"We'll hire one anyway." Michael rubbed his temple.
Emily suddenly looked at me. "Evelyn, could you stick around and help out for a few days before you leave? Just until we find a nanny, so things don't fall through the cracks."
I dried my hands. "No. I'll leave after we get the paperwork done tomorrow."
Her expression fell. "Isn't that a little too sudden? Mom needs some time to adjust. You've taken care of her for four years. What's the harm in staying a few more days?"
"You do it." I looked at her. "You're her daughter. You can take care of her for a few days."
Her expression changed instantly. "I'm already drowning in work. I work overtime until ten every night. Where am I supposed to find the time?"
"I need to find a job too."
"How can you compare yourself to me? You've been sitting around at home for four years."
"You're right," I said. "I've been sitting around for four years, so now I need to get out there and find a job."
She looked like she'd been caught off guard and opened her mouth to argue, but one look from Michael made her swallow the words.
"That's enough," he said. "We'll figure it out."
Emily's lips moved, but she didn't say anything else.
They left a little after ten.
Before they walked out, Emily suddenly dug into her bag and pulled out a supermarket gift card. "Evelyn, I had this left over from an event I did before. There's still a little over 30 dollars on it. Take it. Consider it a goodbye gift."
She held it out with a generous smile.
It was a dusty old supermarket gift card. I didn't take it. "Keep it for your mom."
The moment the door closed, I could faintly hear her muttering something in the hallway. I couldn't make out the words, and I didn't need to.