The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan Read Free Book Online Page B

back. “You don’t have any family here. Wouldn’t it make sense to go back?” Evie wiggled herself straighter, but kept her gaze transfixed on Nicole.
    Nicole’s eyes opened wide and she stood, removing her hands from her pockets. “We have Sam and Sophie, ” she said, her voice rising until Evie put a hushing finger to her own lips. Nicole unfurled the blankets and bunched them up at her feet. She untied her robe to reveal fleece pajamas, a step above Evie’s sweats, for sure. No holes. Cotton-candy pink.
    “You’re our family too,” Nicole said.
    Evie pretended she hadn’t heard that last part. “Let’s go to sleep. I’m sure Luca wakes up early.”
    “Yes, he does. Babies always wake up early, don’t they? Good night,” Nicole said, a touch of hesitancy to her voice, as if she had something else to say but thought better of it.
    “See you in the morning.” Evie almost reached to smooth the blanket, tuck it in tight. She clasped her hands behind her back and walked toward the stairs.
    “Evie?”
    “Yes?” She stopped and turned toward Nicole.
    “Thank you.”
    “No problem.” But Evie had a feeling it would be.

 
    Chapter 4
    E VIE’S BEDROOM WAS DARK AND her eyes were closed, but she felt Sophie’s gaze from the doorway as if her daughter had lassoed her.
    BD (Before Death), Evie had turned off her sixth, seventh, and eighth senses every other weekend. Now they were on autopilot. Always. During her marriage, Evie had known the kids were crying before Richard ever heard a sound. She knew when they were sneaking a cookie, watching TV on mute, or if they’d fed Rex their veggies under the table. Evie relied on her maternal instincts, the switch that flipped when the twins were born. But at some point her marital intuition went haywire. Perhaps it was easier knowing her kids were climbing on the kitchen counter than to accept the unstable nature of her marriage.
    Evie peeked with one eye. Nope, she hadn’t lost her touch, a relief as much as a burden. Sophie stood straight, eyes pried wide against the lure of sleep, her arms clutching a medley of stuffed bears, kittens, and dogs. Evie patted her bed and folded down the blanket: Sophie’s cue. Up she climbed and over she scooted, right next to her mom. Evie welcomed Sophie’s warm body with a leg hug and drew her daughter close and inhaled the light scent of baby shampoo. Are the twins too old for baby shampoo? Sophie draped her arm across Evie’s shoulder, and the duo Eskimo-kissed and giggled. Nothing was funny, but it was familiar and comfortable when so much was neither.
    “I heard a baby crying,” Sophie said.
    “Yes, you did. Luca is teething. It’s nothing to worry about.” Evie said it as if she believed it.
    “A sleepover?!”
    Okay, they could call it a sleepover. “Yes, just one night, and you will see them in the morning. Did you have a good day?” Evie asked out of habit and to change the subject, even though she knew exactly how Sophie’s day had been.
    “Uh-huh.”
    Evie pressed her lips to Sophie’s cheek and led the elephant in the corner into full view. “It’s pretty sad without Daddy, huh?”
    “Yeah.” Sophie looked for direction, permission to continue. Her small body stiffened.
    Evie kissed Sophie’s nose and she squirmed, relaxed, and melted in. “It’s going to be sad for a long time.” Evie didn’t say forever . Forever was too long for a ten-year-old. Forever was too long for a forty-five-year-old. “How about tomorrow we find some pictures of Daddy you can put on your desk?”
    “You mean here? In this house?”
    “Yes, here, honey. This is your house.” Evie pulled back and looked at her daughter. “You can even put pictures of Daddy in the living room. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
    Nice? It would be strange. The day Richard moved out, Evie had packed away the wedding photos and replaced them with images of the twins and herself. The past belonged in the past. Until now, of course, when all