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Show Motherlunge a novel 177 "Uh oh. What's up with Pavia?" "Post-partum stuff?" I ventured. "Fatigue? The fact that Jack has a little something on the side?" I surprised myself by using that last scorned euphemism-a little something on the side?-a term someone in marketing would use. "That's crazy," Cassandra said soberly. "How did Pavia find out?" I told her about the Fitness Loop; Cassandra shook her head and shivered. "Ugh," she said, taking a bite of toast. "That's gross." "What about you and Steig?' I asked. I cupped my palm beneath my chin to catch the toast crumbs. "How are you two doing? How much longer is he here for?" Cassandra's face clouded. "He's going back to Israel as soon as the semester's over, actually." She looked up at me, swallowed. She began to say something, then jerked, startled as the front door burst open and banged shut again, hard. 'That scares the shit out of me every time." She looked over her shoulder toward the foyer. "Your boy's home." ) I followed Cassandra to the front of the house holding my coffee cup, feeling sheepish, delinquent. It was the middle of my workday; what was I doing there? "Look who missed you," Cassandra told Eli. Faithful to a domestic practice that didn't exist in Supernal, so far as I knew, Eli was kicking his sneakers off into the pile of shoes by the door. He looked up, and perhaps he looked pleased-but not ecstatic, not thrilled-to see me there. Perhaps I took this personally. In any case, I suddenly wanted to cry, but didn't. Rather, grinned. |