The Art of Saying Goodbye - Ellyn Bache [111]
After a time she feels Eddie’s arm around her shoulders. She doesn’t shrug it off. Rachel rushes back into the house as if on cue, in a cloud of frostbitten air. “It’s freezing out there. Freezing.” When the door slams behind her, it takes with it the passing breath of something cold. Ginger lets it go.
They’re so fragile. Anything that happens to them can only make it worse.
They’ve had each other all these years. They have each other now.
How many families are ever this happy?
“Are you all right?” Eddie asks.
“I think so. Yes. Better.”
If not for Paisley, how would they know?
The day after Christmas is always disorganized and scattered, but to Julianne, this one seems worse than usual. The sky is clotted with clouds, and a cold rain spits down every once in a while, thoroughly unpleasant stuff that keeps everyone in the house. Will has brought a girlfriend, Elise, who is apparently also his roommate, a fact Julianne didn’t discover until now. Julianne hopes the girl is disease-free and vigilant about birth control, because she doesn’t think the roommate situation is going to last. Elise exhibits her insecurity by pretending to feel all too at home, pouring orange juice into the wrong glasses, setting out napkins when Julianne always leaves them in the napkin holder, calling everyone in for bacon and eggs as if she’s the cohostess who’s been doing this forever. In the end Elise is far less helpful than the boys, and when she realizes this, she begins to pout.
“Are you going to your dad’s today?” Julianne asks when they’ve finished eating. “Has he met Elise yet?”
Will raises his eyebrows because Julianne never suggests it’s a good idea to see Bill, even when it is.
She’s annoyed because none of them will leave. Joe has been on the phone all morning with other friends also home from college, but somehow none of them have managed to make concrete plans. Toby is glued to the television, overwhelmed not by the presence of his brothers, which he always enjoys, but by the intrusion of a girl into the mix. Doug will be coming over soon. Julianne is grateful that at least he wasn’t there for Christmas dinner. His sister had invited him and he was obligated. Now he’ll arrive in a burst of goodwill, bringing bagels or pastries or some other unneeded foodstuff, hoping to ingratiate himself with her sons, who don’t like him and never will. They don’t like Bill’s wife of many years, either.
When the doorbell rings, everyone backs off, allowing Julianne to get it so they won’t have to be the first to tell Doug hello. But it’s not Doug at the door, it’s a large, older man, a stranger, bundled into an expensive-looking overcoat. Or—no, not a stranger.
“Harold Fetterman,” he says. “The guy who had the heart attack?”
Julianne remembers; of course she does. You don’t forget a patient who sends the black horrors sizzling into your bloodstream through the medium of a stethoscope. What he’s doing on her doorstep, she can’t fathom.
“Well, come in,” she says. “You look pretty healthy now.” He must have lost ten pounds in the past month. Mortal fear will do that to you.
He holds out a large box of something frozen. “Steaks,” he says. “I did a little research. I heard you had grown sons. Carnivores.”
“But you shouldn’t—”
He holds up a hand. “Of course I should. You saved my life. Besides, I own the company.” He indicates the wrapping on the package: Fetterman’s Frozen Meats.
“Well, in that case. But I don’t think I saved your life.”
“Oh, absolutely. I didn’t even have chest pains. Just, all of a sudden I didn’t feel so well. I would have had no idea. They said in the hospital that the quick treatment was critical.”
Julianne takes the proffered package. “Come on in,” she says again. “Come have a cup of coffee.”
Harold Fetterman demurs. “No. I just wanted to thank you in person.”
“You’re welcome,” she says.
When she closes the door, all the boys are standing in the entryway, watching. She holds her arms out at her sides to give them a better look. “Your mother the savior,” she tells them.
They applaud. The show of adoration