Page 118 of A Better World

“No.”

“And what happens if I ignore you?”

Sally touched her hand to her revolver. “I hope you try.”

Linda pegged this as a bluff, but didn’t see the point testing the theory, given she didn’t have her family with her and she’d be running away without them.

She returned to the hall and found the Bennett family, who greeted her with surprising warmth, as if nothing had happened. Lloyd gave his usual sunny smile and firm shake. His three kids hung back. Daniella hugged Linda long and tight, just like that first time, when Linda remembered having felt protected. Accepted.

Hip and Cathy looked sad and tired. He was holding her, his lips pressed to her blond hair.

“So much drama!” Daniella whispered with the same effusiveness as ever. “I had to play mediator all night. Or meditator? Pooping both! Hip talks a lot. Too much. I had no idea. No offense, but poor Cathy. Has she been listening to that jibber-jabber all these months? It’s like a drill. Not that she’s easy. The kid’s as spoiled as they come. You’re welcome for letting him sleep over, by the way. Five kids in one house is too many kids.”

“Thanks,” Linda said. “Did they resolve anything? I heard Cathy’s upset that what I did will reflect badly on her agenda.”

“We all are!” Daniella said brightly.

“Sorry,” Linda said.

“Cathy’s the one I’m worried about. I’ve spent fifteen years protecting that girl from certain realities about this place. She’s so tender. I told them both, no point getting attached when it’s only going to end badly. I told her to break up with him and she agreed. Besides, he’s been dominating her time. She’s like me; she’s into making the world better, and she can’t let some boy distract her from that. Forget the Fabric Collective. She’s got a future here as a politician.”

There was much insanity and some stupidity in what Daniella hadsaid, but Linda tried to stay focused. “They’re broken up? But they’re standing together?”

“These two. It’s been one long good-bye.”

“Poor kids,” Linda said.

“Poor me. They kept me up half the night.”

“Sorry about that.”

Daniella’s smile went flat. “You should say it like you mean it. I’ve got a lot of damage to repair. Because of my association with you, Lloyd’s on the outs with Parson. Not even Anouk can smooth it over. I told you when we met, everything reflects.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Linda said. “It was something I felt I had to do. It wasn’t an easy choice.”

Daniella squeezed Linda’s shoulder, digging her nails. “It must be so hard, being better than everyone else. You fucked me, you cunt.” Still smiling, she broke off to make small talk with Tania Janssen and her family.

Her cheeks flushed and her breath coming fast, Linda headed next for Hip and Cathy. “I’m sorry,” she said, and this time she was sincere.

In her too-loose robe, the sleeves long past her wrists, delicate Cathy averted her eyes from Linda like she couldn’t stand the sight of her.

Hip’s whole body was hunched, as if carrying a great burden. Linda had the feeling they really had been up all night, talking. Only Cathy, with her mother backing her, had been accusing and ranting, and Hip had been consoling and apologizing.

Linda reached out and took his shoulder. It was narrow, like the rest of him. But solid. In their time in this town, he’d grown half a foot. “You both need rest,” she said. “This is too much emotion. You can’t be thinking clearly.”

“Mom, we’re fine,” Hip said. But she could see that he was in over his head. He needed extraction. “Give me some space.”

“Sure,” Linda said. “But I want you back with the rest of us by dinner.”

Cathy began bawling, loud and with great theatrics. “Your mother’s awful!” she bleated. The hall’s cacophony drowned her voice. Shelooked around as she cried, to see if anyone had noticed. When she saw they hadn’t, she bawled louder.

“Okay,” Hip agreed, seeming grateful, holding Cathy now in his arms. “See you at dinner.”

Scanning the room, Linda saw all the other residents of Plymouth Valley. Jack and Colette were together with their little ones, no nanny in sight. Looking angry but nonetheless smiling, the Bennett stepsiblings stood by the grilled goat, peeling strips from its carcass, hyena-like. Far up at the grand table was John Parson Junior, Anouk, and Keith in his crown. Even Ruth Epstein, whom she’d seen ranting in the psychiatric ward, was sitting with her husband and kids like nothing in the world was wrong.

After lunch, they all scraped their own plates and filed into the kitchen, where, in an assembly line, they washed, dried, and put them away. Then came the greetings, where everyone said hello. Linda expected people to snub her. With the way news traveled in PV, they had to know what she’d done. But they didn’t snub her. “May your star always shine bright,” they said to one another as she hugged her neighbors, and the soccer parents, and Russell’s friends, and BetterWorld’s board.

Rachel, helped by Kai, was the last to greet them. She’d paled and lost weight she couldn’t afford to lose. “Dry for two days,” she said. “Like a rotting boat.”

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