Friends and Strangers - J. Courtney Sullivan Page 0,72

sound of Andrew’s whispers as he carried Gil downstairs.

Elisabeth rolled over and sank into the pillows, a smile blooming on her face.

10

Sam

ELISABETH WAS CLEARLY PISSED when Andrew accepted a wedding invitation from a guy at work he barely knew without asking her first.

The groom had met his bride three months ago, on a website called GeekLove.

“It’s a potluck,” Elisabeth said, revolted. “A potluck wedding.”

Sam thought that sounded kind of nice, but she kept the thought to herself.

Even more annoying to Elisabeth was Andrew having asked his parents to babysit.

“Would you do me the biggest favor and watch Gil at their house?” Elisabeth asked. “I don’t trust them alone with him. I’ll tell them I’d already asked you and you need the money, so I didn’t want to cancel on you, but that, really, they’re in charge.”

“Okay.”

“But, Sam,” Elisabeth said. “Really, you’re in charge.”

This was how Sam came to find herself at Andrew’s parents’ house at one o’clock on a Saturday afternoon.

Andrew and Elisabeth dropped Sam and Gil off on their way to the wedding.

“My mother will want to do everything,” Andrew said in the car. “So this should be an easy day for you.”

Elisabeth met Sam’s eye in the rearview mirror and shook her head.

For an hour after Andrew and Elisabeth left, she sat with the grandparents, watching Gil roll around on a blanket on the living room floor. A large black dog with white patches beneath his eyes kept sniffing the baby and licking his face. When Sam made a noise to indicate that she wasn’t sure about this, Andrew’s mother, Faye, said, “He’s harmless.”

Sam knew Elisabeth wouldn’t like it, but who was she to argue with the grandmother?

There were Thanksgiving decorations everywhere. Stalks of dried yellow and red corn hung on the front door. On the coffee table, on top of a giant lace doily, a wicker cornucopia spilled forth with Hershey’s Kisses. It was the dead opposite of the way Elisabeth decorated. Her house did not change with the seasons. She would never be the sort of woman who wore earrings in the shape of Christmas ornaments, or a sweater with a pumpkin on it.

Faye was that sort of woman. She taught elementary school and seemed to delight in Gil’s every gurgle. At first, watching her with him, Sam thought Elisabeth had underestimated Faye. But when it came time for a diaper change and a bottle, Faye said, “I’ve got a million chores to do, so we’ll leave you to it.”

They’d set up the Pack ’n Play in the spare bedroom. Sam brought the baby in and closed the door.

She heard Faye complaining about her presence a few minutes later.

“We raised her husband, but she doesn’t trust us to watch his son for four hours. Tell me how that makes sense,” she hissed.

George, Andrew’s dad, shushed her.

Sam wasn’t sure what to do. If Faye had made a move to take care of Gil, she wouldn’t have stopped her. As it was, Sam changed him, gave him a bottle, sang to him for five minutes, and he was out. Exhausted, she supposed, from the attention and the change of scenery. Sam placed him in the playpen and went to leave the room, but then she thought better of it. What was she going to do out there? She sat on the edge of the bed, a bed that probably never got used. It sagged and squeaked when she put her weight on it.

Sam scrolled through her phone, but that soon became boring. Her father and brother had exchanged fourteen texts about the Patriots. They’d included the whole family, even though no one else replied, or cared about football.

She had the novel Clive had given her in her purse. Angel. Clive kept asking if she had started it yet, which she hadn’t. Once, Elisabeth spotted the book peeking out of Sam’s bag and exclaimed over how much she loved it. Sam heard herself telling a lie, the words stolen from Clive: “Me too. It’s one of my favorites. It’s so unfair that, because of her name, Elizabeth Taylor never really got the recognition she deserved.”

“Totally,” Elisabeth said. “I’ve always thought that!”

Sam had brought along some reading for class, but she had left her book bag out in George and Faye’s front hall with her coat. She wasn’t in the mood anyway. Two days ago, Shannon had come running into Sam’s room to show her the letter she’d received, alerting her that she’d been selected for Phi Beta