for an agency, and they already placed her somewhere for a few months.”
“You sound impressed.”
“With Claire? No. I mean, not that I’m not impressed, but I’m not surprised, I guess.”
“No?”
“No. She wanted a job and so she got one.”
“That’s all there was to it?”
“Pretty much. Things come pretty easily for her.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’ve told you that before.”
“You have,” Dr. Baer said. “I just find it interesting that you’re still so sure of that. She’s had a tough year, hasn’t she?”
“Yeah, but still. It’s not like things have happened to her … She’s made the decisions. She ended her engagement, she quit her job, she moved back home. I mean, it’s a lot of changes, but it’s all stuff she wanted to do.”
“But haven’t you made your decisions too?”
“Well, yeah, but it’s different.”
“Different how?”
“Claire has more choices?”
“How so?”
“She just does, she always has.”
“Okay.”
“It’s true.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t true. I just think you can’t be so quick to be so sure of other people’s situations. Examine your own situation. You also have a lot of choices. It’s not always easier for other people. It doesn’t work like that.”
“Sure it does. A lot of times it does work like that.”
“Well, sometimes, I’ll admit it might seem that way. But things aren’t always what they seem.”
After that session, Martha thought about her choices. She thought that maybe she should have been a therapist, so that she could say things like, “Your life isn’t so hard,” and “I see,” over and over again. Now that seemed like an easy life.
NOW THAT CLAIRE WAS TEMPING and she was at the Cranstons’, they were getting up and getting ready at the same time each morning, which they hadn’t done since high school. Sometimes Martha knocked on the bathroom door, pretending to be in a hurry, so that Claire would let her in and they could brush their teeth together, put on makeup side by side.
MARTHA LOVED WHEN RUBY CAME to the Cranston house. She was the prettiest person Martha had ever seen in real life—she always looked a little bit tan, her hair was always shiny. Once, when Martha commented on how glamorous Ruby was, Jaz said, “She should be. She works at it like it’s a job.”
Sometimes, Ruby would sit in the kitchen with Martha and have some tea. Martha always made it, but she didn’t mind. Ruby sort of seemed like a little kid that needed things done for her. The first day that she came, she kept staring at the teapot and saying, “I’d love some tea,” like it was a puzzle she couldn’t figure out. Finally, Martha got up to make the tea, and Ruby smiled at her like she was relieved.
Now Martha offered as soon as Ruby walked into the kitchen, setting out cookies and starting the water boiling. Then, Martha would sit and wait for Ruby to start talking—Ruby loved to talk—hoping that she was going to spill some family secrets.
“We’re not speaking,” Ruby said one day. “My brother and me, I mean. We’re on upsetting terms.” Ruby had a strange way of talking, of putting words together, almost like English wasn’t her first language, or like she wanted people to think that. She dotted her sentences with random phrases, arranged verbs and nouns in odd places, throwing them wherever she pleased.
“Oh really?” Martha asked. She didn’t want to sound too eager, but she was dying to know about Billy.
Ruby sighed. “He’s impossible, if you must know, my brother. He thinks of himself as the most important person in the world. Or rather, he thinks he’s more important than he is, in truth.” Ruby paused to think this over. “I don’t know which one it is, or if there’s even a difference. I’m just telling this to you, so that you understand why we won’t be in the house at the same time. This is why the schedule exists.”
“Of course,” Martha said. “I mean, I understand. Has this been going on for a long time?”
“Forever, it seems like. But in actual time, only a few years. Since my mom died, really. Billy thinks he’s in charge of everything.”
“Families are tricky,” Martha said.
“Isn’t that the truest thing,” Ruby said, and Martha felt like the cleverest person in the world.
MARTHA LOVED SENDING HER COUSIN CATHY long e-mails about her job and the Cranstons. She told her about Jaz and Ruby, and talked about how degrading it must be for Mr. Cranston to basically need a babysitter at this point in his life. Cathy