Page 130 of Pick-Up
Those words. That became an inside joke between me and Ethan. The words he hurled at me outside the school when Ruby took Nettie’s drama club spot. They were unconsciously borrowed from his ex-wife. This phrase was no accident. It’s something Kaitlin said about me at home. I could just picture her at the dinner table: “Nettie’s mom is never on top of things.”
But why? Why was she talking about me at all?
Maybe I don’t understand the why, but I definitely understand thewhat. And I can hardly believe it.
Adrenaline ricochets through my body like a comet. It boomerangs like a golden snitch. I have been catapulted into an alternate universe.
And all that comes out, as I point a shaking E.T. finger at her, is: “You!”
A smug smile creeps onto her face. Her eyes look hollow. Like she is not sleeping.
“Me what?”
“You. You’re the reason I’m not getting the school updates. None of the reminders. Why I lost the after-school drama slot! And the hoodie—well, maybe not the hoodie. But kind of! You’re the reason my information keeps getting erased from the system. Why I got cotton candy duty! You’re doing this to me—on purpose!”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Even as Kaitlin laughs, she eyes me with triumph. She looks to Red Vest for commiseration, but her buddy is too rapt to notice.
“This predates anything with Ethan. So, why would you do this? What do you have against me?” I ask.
Her mouth drops open. “What doIhave against you?” she repeats.
I have pushed the right button. Or maybe it’s wrong. The nuclear one. It’s clear from the way she pushes her camping chair back, scraping it against the blacktop, and stands up. She makes herself big like I’m a bear she is trying to scare off.
“Yes!” I press. “What’s yourproblem?”
“What’s my problem? What’syourproblem?” she spits. “You think you’re so much better than everyone else! You always have. Waltzing up in your stupid leopard jackets and wide-leg jeans and high-tops, thinking you’re so on trend!”
“Now my wardrobe is a problem? Is it also unvaccinated?”
We are making a scene. Especially here. In this quiet neighborhood with this quiet school. We are not at all quiet.
This feels like my new MO.
“You’ve always been this way!” she snaps, her face contorting with rage. “You’ve always been above it all. Always had it so fucking easy.”
Always?
“Please watch your language!” says the school administrator. “There are children here.”
But Kaitlin is well past listening. “You just take whatever you want and don’t even care who you step on or ignore! Well, welcome to Earth, where you can’t just treat others like shit.”
I am pretty sure you can treat others like shit on Earth, unfortunately. And I cannot believe what I’m hearing. How long has this woman hated me? Ishateeven a strong enough word? She’s been actively working to make my life harder for months!
The part of me that isn’t vibrating with fury is struck by the fact that she thinks my sheen stuck. The teenage sheen that dulled decades ago. This woman thinks I am still the person I was at sixteen years old. At twenty-two. At thirty. I am both horrified and compelled by this realization—and the chasm between how others see us and how we see ourselves.
“Fine,” I say. “I’m not your favorite person. But why would you sabotage another woman? Other children? Another mom?”
“Oh. Like you’re here to help other women? Or do you just take what’s theirs? When I got divorced, you could have offered me commiseration. But you just ignored me as always!”
There it is. At least in part.
I exhale. “Kaitlin, I’m sorry if you feel like I’ve ignored you, but I really don’t understand. You were fucking with my life before Ethan and I even met. What did I take from you?”
“What’s going on?” booms a voice from behind me. A deep male one. With equal parts authority and shock. Demon Dad. I know without turning around. “What’s happening?”
When I do swivel to look at him, disbelief is surely written all over my face. Eyes popping out of their sockets. He too looks alarmed. What she has been doing to me—to my kids—is mind-boggling!
I take a deep breath. I will remain calm. “What’s happening is that your ex-wife has apparently been on a mission to ruin my life.” I can’t believe the words as they come out of my mouth. “I know it sounds bonkers, but it’s true. And now she won’t let my kids into the yard.”
