she was already under the covers.
“I tried to get Mom to go to bed, but she’s still on the couch. She kept saying, ‘I’ll get up in a minute.’ ”
“Mmm-hmm,” Claire said. She was half-asleep.
“Happy Thanksgiving,” Martha whispered.
CLAIRE WOKE UP WITH A START, in the middle of a nightmare where she was falling off of a balcony. She sat up to steady herself, and saw Martha squatting by the door, which was cracked open.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Shhhh,” Martha said. She motioned for Claire to come next to her.
“What?” Claire said. But she got up and went to the door. She could hear her mom’s voice, but couldn’t quite hear what she was saying. Then she heard Max, who sounded like he was crying.
“What’s going on?” she asked Martha.
Martha turned, her eyes wide. “I think Cleo’s pregnant,” she said.
“No—did you really hear that?”
“I think so. It’s kind of hard to hear.”
“No way. Max is probably just failing a class or something.” But even as she said it, Claire knew that she was wrong. She couldn’t hear what Max was saying, but she knew he was upset. And not much upset Max. In fact, almost nothing upset him. Claire tried to ignore the excited look in Martha’s eyes.
Claire never understood the way that Martha got almost giddy when there was tragedy or drama. She fed off of it. She could find a problem in any situation, even the most pleasant. But when there was a real problem, like this, that’s where she really thrived. She got involved, she talked about it constantly. It was like being a part of the drama made her feel included and important.
They sat crouched together, listening to the rise and fall of Weezy’s and Max’s voices. They heard Cleo’s name and something about her mom. They heard Weezy say, “Decisions to make,” and “young” and “difficult.” And once, they heard an “Oh, Max,” from Weezy, and then they heard Max really start to cry.
They looked at each other, and Claire knew that it was true. Cleo must be pregnant, because what else could it be? Unless Max had killed someone, but even then, Weezy would be on the phone with a lawyer or the police. And she wasn’t. She was just talking to Max, her voice filled with disappointment. And that was never a good sign.
Poor Max, she thought. Poor, poor Max.
CHAPTER 14
Weezy didn’t handle it as well as Max had thought she would. He’d said, “It won’t be that bad” so many times that Cleo almost believed him. She agreed that he should tell Weezy by himself, and not just because she didn’t want any part of that conversation. Weezy wouldn’t be able to react truthfully if Cleo was there, and that didn’t seem fair.
Max went upstairs late, after everyone had gone to bed. Weezy was asleep on the couch, but he’d woken her up. Cleo had stayed in the basement, sitting on the top step and listening.
Weezy had started crying almost immediately. At first Cleo felt bad, but after a while as she listened to Weezy heave and gasp, with what seemed like unnecessary drama, she started to get annoyed. She thought about storming up the stairs, looking her in the face, and saying, “What are you crying about? You don’t have to have this baby.” She didn’t, of course. She stayed put and listened to Weezy repeat that she was so disappointed. Not in them, but for them. Whatever that meant.
Somehow, during the conversation where Max told Weezy that Cleo was pregnant, it had come out that they were living together. “You’re what?” Weezy had said, like that was the real problem, like living together was the reason she got pregnant in the first place.
MAX STAYED CALM UNTIL THE VERY END when he started to cry. She couldn’t blame him. She was about to cry herself, just listening to Weezy repeat herself, letting him know that she really was just so disappointed.
Cleo heard the word “options” and she sat up straight. She didn’t want Weezy up there talking about her like she wasn’t there. She was right here. They weren’t Weezy’s options, they were hers, and she had decided.
When Max finally came back down, she had moved one step down and had her head resting on her arms on the landing. She was exhausted. Max was walking quickly, and he still had tears running down his face, which embarrassed her so much she had to look away. She was embarrassed because she