Page 42 of August
Elisa didn’t have time to reply to that message because her doorbell rang. Having no scheduled-to-arrive packages or visitors, she walked to check the door to see if it was maybe a solicitor or something she just hadn’t been expecting. It was definitely someone she hadn’t expected.
“Archie,” she said, opening the door to her ex-husband.
“Elisa,” he replied tersely in that same tone he used for his patients.
He had never been known for his bedside manner, but his skills as a doctor were indisputable, and that fact had always made it hard for her to argue about how he spent his time. He was a great doctor and helped hundreds of patients, but that meant that he couldn’t be home as often as she or the kids would have liked.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “Where are the kids? Are they okay?”
Elisa looked around him at his car, which was parked in the driveway, but she didn’t see AJ or Adele inside.
“They’re fine. They’re at home,” he said. “Can I come in?”
“Archie, what’s going on?”
“Can I come in, Elisa? I’m standing on the porch, for crying out loud.”
She wished she had that porch swing right about now because she didn’t want him to come in. The house wasn’t a mess or anything, but it wasn’t at all fancy like the house they used to share, and she knew he would judge her.
“Are you here visiting Gwen or something?” she asked, knowing the answer.
“What? No,” he replied as if that had been a ridiculous question. “Can I come in, Elisa?” he repeated, looking around as if people were standing on the street staring at them.
“Fine. But you can’t stay long. I have plans.”
“Plans?” he asked as she let him walk inside past her.
“Yes, I have plans tonight, and I need to get ready.”
“Is Gwen taking you to one of those bars she goes to all the time?” he asked and looked around her house with themild look of disgust she’d seen him show before when they’d ordered food at a restaurant and it had been overcooked.
“She doesn’t go to bars all the time. Who told you that?”
“She mentioned meeting that girlfriend of hers at a bar.”
“Once, about three years ago,” Elisa replied.
“Well, she’s not doing much else, is she?”
“She has a full-time job, Archie.”
“Can I sit?” he asked, motioning to her sofa.
“Fine,” she replied.
“Good. I need to talk to you about something serious, so not about my little sister’sjob. At least Grant got a decent job and didn’t learn from her.”
“Archie, what do you want?”
“I talked to the kids last night. That’s why I’m here. And I didn’t want to do this over the phone, so I drove two-plus hours and canceled on patients so that I could tell you.”
“Tell me what?” she asked as she sat down on the sofa but leftallthe space she could between them.
“They want to stay with me until they go to school.”
“What? Since when?”
“Elisa, you moved them here three months before all of their friends, whom they had known since they were born, were about to separate for different colleges. You know how close they are to their friends, and yet, you insisted that you couldn’t stay in the guest house another minute, even though it was best for them for you to be there and not move them here.”
