to fix with a walk around the block or a bowl of ice cream. But relationships were so much more complex.
“You okay?” she finally asked.
“No,” Chloe mumbled, sniffling. “I’m embarrassed. The only time someone should cry at Macy’s is when there’s a good sale.”
Kristine bit her lip. There it was, the Kevin humor shining through. He’d much rather crack a joke than deal with real emotions. Chloe had picked up the same defense.
“It’s okay to cry,” she said. “You know, you and June always make fun of me for it but it’s a heck of a lot better than trying to keep all of your emotions bottled up inside.”
Chloe nodded, letting out a huge sigh. “I know.”
“You have so much going on, honey.” Kristine touched her knee. “I don’t know how you handle it all.” She glanced at her daughter’s engagement ring. The diamond was cloudy and needed to be cleaned. “Does Geoff do things like this a lot?” she asked. “Make plans with you and break them?”
Chloe dabbed at her eyes with her sweatshirt. “No.”
Kristine reached into her purse and found a packet of tissues. “Here. Blow your nose.”
Chloe gave her a look. “Mother, I’m not five.” But she still blew her nose.
After a long moment, she wadded up the tissue. “Geoff doesn’t break plans at the last minute. It’s just . . .” She played with the tissue for a moment, then twisted it around her finger. “He’s always pushing Mary Beth on me. I understand. I mean, I’m going to be her mother.” Her lower lip trembled. “But it’s too much. When I’ve got school and planning this wedding and . . .”
“Have you talked with him about it?”
“Yes, kind of.” Chloe shook her head, glum. “But now that Mary Beth’s mother is back, he’s all worried that Mary Beth will get confused and he really wants to solidify my place in her life. Which is great, you know? But it’s just too much to handle right now. I wish I could just take it at my own pace.”
The salesclerk poked her head around the corner. “How’s it going back here? Did you have any questions about china?”
“No.” Chloe chewed on her top lip. “Just a few questions about marriage.”
The salesclerk smiled. “I understand. We get that a lot around here.”
“And what’s the verdict?” Chloe gave a little laugh. When the salesclerk made a move to answer, Chloe shook her head. “I’m just kidding.”
The salesclerk didn’t laugh. She had to be in her late fifties, with light brown hair and a carefully made-up face. “You know, there were many years where I wondered why I ever got married. And then, why I bothered to stay the course.” She shrugged and her tailored pink blazer moved up and down with the motion. “But if I’ve learned anything, it’s that you don’t have to figure it all out right now. Life is long and love has a way of working itself out.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Chloe stared straight ahead, her hands gripping her knees.
“Well.” The salesclerk thought for a moment. “Then I guess you’ll leave the marriage with half a set of really nice china.”
Chloe looked at her in surprise.
“That is,” the salesclerk said with a smile, “if I do my job correctly.”
That made Chloe laugh. She threw back her head and laughed and laughed, until Kristine and the salesclerk finally joined in, too. “That’s more like it,” the woman said, handing her a registry gun. “This is the fun part. Save the serious stuff for the chapel.”
Sixty
Kristine was sitting in bed, reading an article on Japan, when Kevin walked in. He was dressed in his sweats and carrying a glass of water. He set it down on his nightstand and switched on the lamp.
He gave her a cautious look. “Hi.”
“Hey.”
Kevin stood there, chewing his lip. His eyes were troubled.
“What are you doing in here this early?” she asked, pulling the sheets up around her.
“I don’t know.” Kevin’s meaty face looked slightly bewildered, as though he didn’t quite know what he was doing in their bedroom either. “I thought I’d come in here with you. Read for a while.”
Kristine looked over at his side of the bed. On his nightstand, there was only the water, a box of tissues and an alarm clock. “Do you have a book?”
“Nope.” He gave a small laugh. “I was hoping you could point me in the right direction.”
“Oh.” Even though there were so many things wrong between them, they couldn’t ignore each other