The Blessings of the Animals: A Novel - By Katrina Kittle Page 0,41
taking up all my energy and time, being pissed at him. And I decided one day, after I’d come home to find that he’d taken the shower curtain away because he was the one who picked it out so therefore it was ‘his,’ that he was behaving like a child, so I should give him a child’s name. When he did crappy things like send my mail back—because I’d stopped using his name, so he’d mark it ‘unknown’—I could just shake my head and say, ‘Oh, that Skippy.’ It’s hard to be mad at a Skippy, you know? Stephen I could be mad at. Murderous raging take-a-hatchet-to-his-car mad. Skippy was absurd and easier to take.”
“You are a genius. That’s brilliant. So, what’s a baby name for Bobby? Butthead?”
Helen laughed but shook her head. “You wouldn’t call a child butthead.”
“Boo-boo?”
“That’s better. Not it, but better.”
“Binky.”
“Perfect.”
“Binky.” Cami tested it. “Did I tell you that big, stupid, clueless Binky asked me to help him carry his computer out of our house?”
Helen choked on her wine. “Tell me that you didn’t.”
“Hell, no. I should’ve though. I should’ve picked it up and heaved it down the stairs.”
“Attagirl.” Good, good for you. The anger was good. The anger would help.
“Fucking Binky.”
Helen burst out laughing. “He asked you to help him carry his computer? Really? Like, oh, by the way, I don’t want to be married to you anymore, but, hey, could ya help me carry my stuff out of the home we shared?” Helen laughed so hard, the wine burned in her nose and she had to wipe tears from under her eyes. Cami laughed, too. “That is such a Binky thing to do!” Helen said.
For a split second, Helen saw the laughter leave Cami. She watched her friend remember. Watched the sorrow and exhaustion tug down her face. Go ahead and feel it, my friend, Helen wanted to plead. Let it take you. Get it out now.
But then damn Mimi had to call and postpone the crash further.
Chapter Twelve
I DON’T KNOW IF IT WAS THE WINE OR THE FACT THAT I WAS an even bigger naïve idiot than I’d thought myself to be, but when I saw Mimi’s name on my cell, my stupid heart lifted, believing she might be calling to say she missed me or to see how I was doing.
Her first words, however, were, “I don’t care what’s going on between you and Bobby, but you have no right to interfere in his relationship with his daughter.”
I let out breath as if she’d punched me. The possessive pronoun rankled in particular.
“Gabriella should’ve been at her father’s party! You had no right to keep her away.”
I recovered enough to speak. “Gabby did go to the birthday party. I thought—”
“Don’t you tell a goddamn lie to my face. When I called her to find out where she was, Gabriella told me you wouldn’t let her come.”
The room seemed to slant. Helen watched me, eyes wide, ready to spring into action. “B-but she would never say that,” I said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. I . . . I wonder—”
“Well, of course she didn’t say it outright. But I could read between the lines. You made her feel guilty for wanting to go. Your marriage problems have nothing to do with them.”
“That’s exactly what I told her. She left the house hours ago and I thought, until you called, that she was at the party with you. Oh, God. Where is she?”
When Mimi was silent, I thought she might be worrying like me, wondering if Gabriella had been in an accident or was with her boyfriend doing God knew what, but then she said, “That’s pretty low, calling your daughter the liar when it’s plain as day you’re just trying to punish Bobby. You need to get off your high horse about whatever it is you think he’s done—”
I hung up on her.
How dare she speak to me that way! I fought to catch my breath.
Forget Mimi. I didn’t care about Mimi. Gabby. Gabby. Gabby. Where was she? I’d never known her to lie to me so blatantly. My hands shook as I filled in Helen. “Shit,” I said, shaking my wine-fuzzy head. “Shit. I hope she’s okay.” I opened the phone I was still holding and called her. When the call went to voice mail, I hung up. Damn it. Damn it. “I don’t know whether to be pissed or terrified.” I took a deep breath. “I’m calling Tyler.”