loved hearing about her work, always responded by telling her how funny and insightful she was, sometimes suggesting that Martha should be a writer, which always thrilled Martha.
Martha and Cathy had always gotten along well, mostly because they found each other entertaining. Martha always said how lucky she was that her best friend was her cousin too. And the fact that she was a lesbian was just an added bonus. Martha thought it made her sound very cool and accepting when she said things like, “I’m going to visit my cousin Cathy and her partner, Ruth. She’s great, Ruth is. They’ve been together for a while now, my cousin and her partner.”
She used to talk about Cathy all the time at J.Crew, partly because she wanted Wally to know that she was not only accepting of his lifestyle, but that she too had gay friends and family. She made references to Cathy a lot, until one day Wally said, “You don’t have to call her Cathy my cousin who’s a lesbian every time you talk about her. We get it, sweetie. You’re related to a dyke.”
Martha wanted to tell him that she didn’t like that term, that she found it offensive, but she wasn’t sure she was allowed to, since Wally was gay himself. She just cut back on her talk about Cathy at work.
Cathy had come out via e-mail to the family during her freshman year in college. Martha had read the note, and then called home immediately, knowing that Weezy wouldn’t have checked her e-mail yet. She was excited to be the one to break the news, basically yelled it out as soon as Weezy answered the phone.
“Oh,” Weezy had said. “Well, honey, you aren’t surprised, are you?”
Martha actually was surprised, but not because she couldn’t imagine that Cathy was a lesbian—she actually could, now that she thought about it. But she just hadn’t thought about it one way or the other before. Cathy was just her cousin, who was sometimes bossy and always knew the most scandalous information growing up, like what French kissing really entailed, and what the definition of third base was.
“No,” Martha had said. “I guess I’m not surprised.” She was, however, sad that she wasn’t able to shock Weezy with this information. Martha loved a good piece of gossip and this one was a doozy.
Cathy was very excited about Martha’s new job, and even more excited at the idea that Martha might get a place of her own. Martha had mentioned this idea briefly one time, and now Cathy wouldn’t let it drop.
“Things are cheaper in Ohio,” she reminded Cathy one night on the phone. “I can’t afford a place just yet.”
“Martha, you’re thirty. You can’t afford not to afford your own place.”
AFTER TWO WEEKS, JAZ STARTED leaving Martha alone with Mr. Cranston. First, she just ran little errands, but with each day she left for longer stretches of time. “I need to run to the store,” she’d say. Martha knew that she was being tested during this time, to see if she could handle it and also to see if Mr. Cranston was okay with her being there.
“I get the feeling that if he doesn’t like me, they’ll just fire me,” Martha told her family one night.
“Of course he’ll like you,” Weezy said. And Will had nodded in agreement, and that was that.
Most of her time with Mr. Cranston was quiet, sometimes just sitting together and reading. Martha learned to bring a book with her, so that if Mr. Cranston wanted to read all afternoon, she could do the same. At first, she would walk around the house, trying to find something to do, refolding blankets and hanging them over the edge of the couch, or getting Mr. Cranston a fresh glass of water.
Eventually, Jaz told her to settle down. “There are people that come to this house to do all of these jobs. All your job is, all you have to worry about, is keeping him company and making sure he gets what he needs. Most of the time it’s not too hard, right? So just settle down and enjoy the quiet time.”
Martha had nodded, although her feelings had been a little hurt. She was a doer. She couldn’t help it. That’s why she’d been so great at J.Crew. She loved moving around and keeping busy, making things look pretty.
But after a few days, Martha realized that Jaz had been trying to help her. She could see that it annoyed Mr.