had a mind for medicine, always got A’s in her science classes.”
“So did I,” Claire said. “I always got A’s in science too.”
Weezy turned to look at her and gave her a small nod and a little smile. Claire knew she shouldn’t let it bother her, the way her parents talked about Martha’s success in school, but it did. It was like they thought if they focused enough on how smart Martha was, no one—maybe not even Martha herself—would notice that she didn’t have any social skills; like if they talked about it enough, they could make up for everything else. It was just that in the process, they made it sound like Claire and Max were dumber than dirt.
“Martha, do you like the fajitas?” Weezy asked. Max and Claire laughed. “What?” she asked.
“Of course she likes the fajitas,” Claire said. “It’s her favorite meal. Isn’t that why we had them in the first place?”
“Everyone likes fajitas,” Weezy said. “You all like them.” She sounded defensive.
“I wish Cathy and Ruth and Drew were here,” Martha said. She looked at Maureen and smiled.
“Me too,” Maureen said.
“We all do,” Weezy said. “Hopefully they’ll be able to make it next year.”
Claire wasn’t all that upset about Cathy’s not being there. They got along fine now that they were adults, but when they were kids, Cathy used to love teasing Claire, finding any reason to leave her out of a game or trick her into eating sand.
One summer Cathy had repeatedly called Claire a virgin, and Claire—assuming it had something to do with being Jesus’s mother and sure that it didn’t apply to her—had yelled back, “I am not! I am not a virgin!” They were all on the crowded beach, and Claire had yelled this over and over, until finally Weezy came over and told her to stop, then leaned down to explain in a quiet voice what that word meant. Claire only partly understood what Weezy was saying to her, but she knew enough to be mortified. She thought she was going to die right there on the beach.
That’s still how she remembered Cathy, even now, all grown up. Claire thought of her as that girl who loved to make her cry, who took so much pleasure in bossing other people around.
“We should go to Atlantic City tonight,” Max said. He looked at Claire. “Come on, let’s do it. I’m finally legal to gamble.” Cleo perked up and looked at Claire for her answer. She was probably dying to get out of the house. If family time was hard when it was your own family, it had to be twice as hard when you were the girlfriend.
Claire was tired from the sun, the talk of Martha, and the whole week. She’d been planning to go sit on the porch after dinner and read. She was trying to think of a way to let them down gently, when Martha said, “I’m in, let’s go!”
Max let out a whoop and Weezy laughed. “Blackjack,” he said. “We can play blackjack. I’ve gotten really good.”
“You’re gonna go?” Claire asked Martha.
“Yeah, I’ll even drive. I barely touched my margarita.”
Claire was trapped. She couldn’t say no now that even Martha was going. “Let’s do it,” she said. She figured it couldn’t hurt. Who knew? Maybe she’d win big, hit the jackpot, and be able to pay her rent next month and put off telling her parents and moving home for another month or so.
Cleo was laughing and clapped her hands like she was a child. “Just give me a minute to change,” she said, and ran out of the room. Well, at least she wouldn’t be wearing her bikini to the casino. That was a plus.
Weezy was telling them all to go. “Have fun,” she said over and over. She was so happy to have all of her kids heading out together, especially happy to have Martha be a part of it, and so she took the plates out of Claire’s hands as she tried to clear the table, and said, “Leave this for me. Just go have fun.”
THE CASINO WAS FULL OF crazy people. Crazy, dirty people. Claire noticed that an abnormally high percentage of people were missing a limb. They’d gone to the Taj Mahal casino partly because it was one they’d heard of and partly because in the car Cleo had said she’d heard it was beautiful there.
“Beautiful?” Claire had asked. “I’m not sure any casino can be called beautiful, but sure, we can go