bear on her nightstand.
But it wasn’t the same. Claire wanted the original bear, the one that had been taken. She hated the thought of it’s being at the Connors house, which was dirty and smelled like mothballs. “Your sister stole my bear,” she said to Hilary once. Hilary just shrugged and looked embarrassed. You couldn’t blame her, Claire knew. She couldn’t pick who her sister was.
CLAIRE PUT ON THE SAME OUTFIT that she’d worn to the temp interview and drove to the office of Proof Perfect, where she was set to meet the woman she’d be filling in for and a few others.
Amanda Liebman met her at the elevator, looking like she was about to give birth right there in the front lobby. She had both of her hands on her back, and was red in the face. “Claire?” she asked. Claire nodded and Amanda puffed a little as she turned and motioned for Claire to follow.
Amanda sat at a desk at the front of the office. Behind her, on the wall, hung letters that spelled out PROOF PERFECT. There was a hallway to the right and left, but all the offices that Claire saw had their doors closed. Once they were seated at her desk, Amanda seemed a little calmer. “I’m carrying around so much extra weight at this point that even standing feels impossible.”
Claire nodded again. “When are you due?”
“In two weeks, but I want to keep working up until the very end so that I can take all of my time with the baby. I’ve already saved up all my vacation and personal and sick days, which wasn’t easy, so I don’t want to waste it now just lying around and waiting.”
“Right.”
“So, my title is Office Manager and Senior Executive Assistant. Basically, that means that I answer the phones, and then do whatever the account managers want me to do, or don’t want to do for themselves. It’s a lot of Xeroxing and other random stuff. All the higher-up people have their own assistants, so you don’t have to worry about them.”
“Okay.”
“Some of the managers are a pain in the ass, but it’s not rocket science, so you’ll be fine.”
Amanda went on to show her the phones.
“So, will they let me know if I get the job?”
“Oh, you got it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Everyone else that comes in here wants a permanent job. They’re hoping to get placed here after this job is done. You’re the only one that wants it for what it is. So, congratulations, it’s yours.”
“Great,” Claire said. She wasn’t sure that it was.
Amanda started to get up to walk her to the elevator, but Claire told her she could get there on her own. She was just walking out into the lobby when Amanda called her name.
“One more thing,” she said. She stuck out her foot from behind the desk. “The dress code says no sandals, but my feet are too fat to wear any of my shoes right now, so fuck it. But if you come in wearing sandals, they’ll go ape shit.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
CLAIRE WENT OVER TO LAINIE’S that night to drink wine. It was still pretty warm out, even at the end of September, and the two of them sat on chairs on the porch, a bottle of wine between them. Brian was inside on the couch, asleep with his mouth open and the TV on.
She couldn’t get over the fact that Lainie lived with her husband and three children in a house that was down the street from where Claire grew up. How had this happened? Lainie became more adult every day, and Claire was back sleeping in her childhood bedroom.
“So you got a job already,” Lainie said. “That’s good news.” She held up her glass and Claire clinked it, then the two of them drank.
“I guess so. The thing is I don’t start until this lady has her baby. It could be tomorrow or it could be in three weeks, which sort of sucks.”
“Then just relax. You’ve been not working for like a week. You should sleep in and enjoy yourself.”
“I can’t. At least not in that house. I just feel like I should be doing something, not sitting around all day with my parents and Martha. It’s driving me crazy.”
“Really? It sounds amazing. You can do whatever you want.” Lainie had grown up in the middle of five sisters, who shared everything from underwear to makeup. She’d never had her own room, and Claire was pretty sure she’d never want