sign,” she said, like they’d all been waiting for this news about her daughter. “We’ve all read the reports about its possibly delaying language. But Mike and I just really believe that it’s positive, you know. We really think it will help her.”
No one said anything, but Jackie didn’t seem to notice. She was so sure that everyone was dying to know the details of her life that it probably never occurred to her that she could possibly be boring them.
Later that night, they ordered pizza and drank more wine. Erin suggested going out for dinner, but that idea was quickly shot down by Jackie. “It’s so cozy in the house,” she’d said. “Let’s just stay here.”
They drank more wine that night than they had the night before. Katherine told them all how she had broken up with her latest boyfriend, Jed, a computer programmer of some sort that looked like he really wanted to be a hipster, but was just a little off.
“What happened?” Claire asked.
Katherine shrugged. “I read his e-mails and found out that he’d been posting online ads for meeting men,” she said. Lainie choked on her wine and started coughing. Erin leaned over and patted her on the back. “It happens sometimes, you know?”
Jackie nodded knowingly. “That’s why you should always read your boyfriend’s e-mails,” she said.
“Seriously?” Clancy asked. “That’s seriously what you just took from that story?”
Katherine sighed and drank her wine. She’d cut her hair short and dyed it blond. She looked tired, like she’d given up fighting. Even when she’d climbed out of Clancy’s car the day before, it had seemed like she didn’t want to be there but didn’t have the energy to resist.
“So,” Jackie said, turning to Claire. “I heard you and Fran Angelo have a little thing going on.”
Claire turned to Lainie, who shook her head just a little, meaning that she hadn’t said anything. “Who told you that?” Claire asked.
“I have my sources,” Jackie said.
“It’s nothing,” Claire said. “Really.”
Jackie let it drop, and Claire was relieved. But on the ride home, she was angry. “What are we doing still hanging out with her?” she’d yelled at Lainie and Paula in the car. “She’s disgusting. I’m done. I’m serious, I’m ashamed of myself that I even spent this much time with her. What does that say about us? What is wrong with us?”
Paula and Lainie had muttered in agreement, which made Claire even angrier. She was silent the rest of the way home, arms crossed, hating herself for not cutting off all contact with Jackie when they were twelve. What was wrong with her? Why was she still putting herself in situations where she was around this person? Jackie was nothing but bad energy. She was pure evil. And how on earth had she ended up married and living in a house with two kids? How had she tricked people into not seeing that she was horrible?
It seemed to Claire that Jackie was a symbol for everything that had ever gone wrong in her life since junior high. She couldn’t stand up for herself then and it had probably just spiraled from there.
FRAN WAS SITTING ON THE COUCH in the basement playing video games when Claire walked in. “How was your weekend?” he asked. He didn’t look away from the TV, or pause the game.
“It was fine,” she said. “Sort of boring. We just stayed at Jackie’s house mostly.”
“Oh yeah? Did you see Mike?”
“No. Jackie made him leave for the weekend.”
“Jackie was always sort of a beast,” he said. “I don’t know what he was thinking.” Claire felt better.
At least sitting in the basement with Fran, she didn’t feel like the messed-up one. Even around Katherine and her boyfriend that dabbled in men, Claire felt like she was the one that was a disaster. It was only here, on the red-plaid couch, that she felt like things weren’t totally falling apart. She sat and watched Fran play his game.
“Remember what video games looked like when we were little?” Claire asked. “The people were basically just little geometric shapes. You could barely see them. These look like real people.”
“I know,” Fran said. “It’s awesome.” He stood up and put his arms straight up in the air when the game was over, and Claire assumed that meant he’d won. “Want to watch a movie?” he asked her.
“Sure.” Claire sat with her arm resting against the back of the couch, her feet right at Fran’s thigh. She let him pick the movie. It