What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty [101]
She put her wineglass on the coffee table and turned to face him. “Just tell me why we’re getting a divorce. Please.”
“That’s an impossible question to answer. There are a million reasons. And you’d probably give a million different reasons.”
“Well, just sort of . . . sum it up.”
“In twenty-five words or less.”
“Yes, please.”
He smiled slightly and it was the real Nick again. He kept appearing and disappearing.
He said, “Well, I guess—” and then he stopped and bowed his head. “Oh, Alice.” An expression of pure misery crossed his face.
It was too much for Alice. Her instinct was to comfort him, and she wanted to be comforted herself, and it was Nick, for heaven’s sake.
She launched herself across the room and into his arms and buried her face in his chest, breathing in deeply. It was still Nick. He still smelled exactly like himself.
“Whatever went wrong, we’ll fix it,” she babbled. “We’ll get counseling. We’ll go on a nice holiday somewhere!” She was inspired. “With the children ! They can come too! Our children! How fun would that be? Or we’ll just hang around here. Swim in the pool. The pool! I love the pool! How did we ever afford that? I guess with your new job. Do you like the job? I couldn’t believe it! You’ve got your own personal assistant. She wasn’t very nice to me, but that’s okay, I don’t mind.”
“Alice.”
He wasn’t hugging her back. The words kept tumbling out of her mouth. She could talk her way out of this.
“I’m skinny, aren’t I? I might even be too skinny. What do you think? How did I get so skinny? Did I give up chocolate? I can’t find any chocolate in the whole house. My password is ‘oregano.’ Weird. Hey, why isn’t Mrs. Bergen talking to me? Did I offend her? Elisabeth seems mad at me, too. But you still love me, don’t you? You must still love me.”
“Stop it.” He held on to her shoulders and pushed her gently away.
“Because we have three children. And I still love you.”
“No, Alice.” He shook his head sternly, as if she were a toddler about to touch an electrical socket.
“What are you two fighting about this time?” Alice and Nick turned to see Madison leaning against the door frame. She must have had a shower. She was wearing a dressing gown, her face was scrubbed, and her hair was wet, pulled back from her face.
“Oh, you look so beautiful,” said Alice involuntarily.
Madison’s face changed, became ugly with rage.
“Why do you always say such stupid, retarded things?”
“Madison!” boomed Nick. “Do not speak to your mother like that.”
“Well, she is! Anyway, I heard you say to Auntie Ella that Mum was a hard bitch, so why are you pretending to like her? I know you hate her.”
Alice caught her breath.
“I do not hate your mother,” said Nick. Alice could see tension pulling the skin around his mouth tight. He looked so old.
“You do so hate her,” said Madison.
“He does not hate Mum!” It was Tom. He punched Madison in the arm. “I hate you.”
“Tom!” snapped Nick.
“Owwww!” Madison clutched her arm, her knees collapsed beneath her, and she fell in a heap on the floor. “He hit me. You’re not meant to hit girls. That is domestic violence. That is violence against women.”
“You’re not a woman,” sneered Tom. “You’re just a stupid girl.”
Madison kicked viciously at Tom’s leg. Tom threw back his head and howled. He looked at Alice, his face bright red and filled with righteous fury. “Mum, did you see how hard she kicked me? I only punched her a little bit!”
“A little bit?” Madison pulled up the sleeve of her dressing gown. “What’s that? That is a mark! There will be a bruise! A huge bruise.”
“Goodness,” breathed Alice. She picked up her wineglass and looked around for some grown-up to take control.
“I think I should go,” said Nick.
“Are you kidding?” said Alice. “You can’t leave me with them!”
Madison and Tom now appeared to be trying to kill each other. They were wrestling like rabid cats on the floor. There was kicking, hair-pulling, and ear-piercing screams of rage. It was remarkable.
“Do they do this a lot?” asked Alice. She stuck her fingers in her ears. “Maybe it wouldn