Page 57 of Love and the Laws of Motion
“It’s great to finally meet you girls.John talks about you all the time.”
John.That was his name, of course, but there was something intimate about the way Teresa said it, the way she casually referred to all these private conversations she had with their father.
Alex, ever the perfect, charming one, was the next to greet her.“Welcome, Teresa.It’s a pleasure to meet you.”He sounded like he was greeting the British ambassador.
“Can I get you something to drink?”Gemma said.“It’s white wine, right?Or we’ve got beer, soda, whatever.”
“Wine would be great.Thanks, Gemma.”
“Something sure smells fantastic, Gem,” Dad said.
“Dinner’s ready.Why don’t we all sit down?I’ll be right back.”Gemma had on her very best company manners, and so did Jess and Alex.Livie vowed to herself, no matter how strange this felt, that she would try, too.
Dinner was not unpleasant.Just stiff.It was new, Livie told herself, having a stranger join what had been their intimate little family for over a decade.The family had easily expanded to embrace Alex, and even Nick, who had no real connection to them at all and didn’t seem to want one.Of course, it would expand to embrace Teresa, too.Logically, Livie knew that.Then why did she feel like there was a cement block sitting on her chest?Why did this all feel so hard?
Livie watched her chat with Gemma about people they both knew from the neighborhood and tried her best to imagine it—this woman—this stranger—joining their family.She couldn’t.She could envision sub-atomic particles dancing on the edge of an event horizon, but she couldn’t picture Teresa becoming part of this family.
“Livie—is it alright if I call you Livie?John says that’s what you go by.”
“Sure.I mean, yes, I go by Livie.”Although literally everybody called her that except Professor Langley, it still felt weirdly intimate to let Teresa do it.
“Your dad says you’re getting your master’s degree in astronomy?”
“PhD.I’m getting a doctorate.”
“Oh, my mistake.A doctorate in astronomy.”Teresa’s light brown eyes widened.She had kind eyes.And a nice face.It was just an unfamiliar face.“Isn’t that something?Well, your dad said you were a genius.”
“I’m not a genius.Genius is just a level of IQ results and IQ tests aren’t an accurate measure of mental abilities.They fail to measure several aspects of intellect, and these days they’re not widely relied on as an indicator of intelligence.”Under the table, Jess nudged her with her foot, and she shut her mouth so fast her teeth clicked.Nice, Livie.That’s exactly what this dinner needed—a lecture about the unreliability of IQ tests.Thiswas why she avoided talking to strangers.She opened her mouth and a bunch of irrelevant nonsense poured out.
Teresa seemed unfazed.“Sure are smarter than me.Nobody we grew up with even went to college, right, John?”She elbowed Dad, who chuckled along with her as they shared some memory from their past.
Except he wasn’t supposed to have a past with this woman.Their mother was his past.That’s how it had always been.What would happen to Angela Romano now that Teresa was here?How was this going to work?Would they have to pack up all her pictures?Would everybody slowly stop mentioning her?Would Teresa step into the spot their mother had once inhabited so fully that it would be like Angela Romano had never even existed?How was she going to ever get used to having this stranger in their house?This person she couldn’t hold a normal conversation with to save her life?
When Livie clammed up, Teresa switched her attention to Jess.Jess was much better at this, chatting animatedly with Teresa about her job, the latest story she was pursuing at the paper, her recent engagement, anything and everything.Alex swung in after that.Alex was used to chatting up Fortune 500 execs and senators.Making conversation with Teresa came as easy as breathing to him.
Livie watched her sisters closely, wondering if this was hard for them, too.It didn’t seem to be.Jess was much better at adapting to new things.She was probably fine.And Gem had spent her whole life wearing a brave face.You could never tell if something upset her.Livie was terrible at pretending to feel things she didn’t feel, and just as terrible at hiding what shedidfeel.
Somehow, dinner was eaten.Conversation was managed.Maybe it wasn’t one of the free-wheeling family dinners the Romano table usually witnessed, but they got through it.As soon as Gemma started clearing the table, Teresa leapt to her feet, offering to help.Gemma firmly shut her down, and Dad led her to the living room, where they turned on the TV to catch the end of the Jets game.Well, at least she was a Jets fan.Dad never would have dated her if she rooted for the Giants.
“Well, what do you think?”Gemma whispered as she covered leftovers in plastic wrap and stowed them in the fridge.
Livie turned on the hot water and squirted some dish soap into the sink.“She seems nice.”
“I like her,” Jess declared as she scraped plates into the trash.“And she makes Dad happy, that’s obvious.”
“They make each other happy.Teresa’s had a rough time of it, too,” Gemma said, turning to take an empty serving bowl from Alex.He cast one brief look around the kitchen, realized the girls were having a post-mortem, and headed back out to the dining room.
“What happened to Teresa?”Jess asked.
“You know when she was married, she lived out in Jersey?Her husband was pretty high up in some construction company.Did well for himself.They had a nice house, Teresa didn’t have to work, all that.Then he up and left her for her best friend.She never saw it coming.Completely broadsided her.”
“That’s awful.”
“And,” Gemma continued, “he got some shark of a lawyer to hide all their assets.Somehow he shafted her out of everything in the divorce.”
“Bastard,” Jess growled.
“Typical,” Gemma concurred.“Anyway, on top of all that, her mother got diagnosed with cancer.She had to move back home to take care of her, but it wasn’t like she had a lot of options in her situation.”
