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“Strangely, no. But I do have news.”
“You know you can’t say that and then not tell me.”
“I’ll tell you when you get back.”
“Are you pregnant again?”
Wendy thought it was an odd thing to ask, since they’d already decided that one child was more than enough. “God no,” she said.
“Seriously, you’re not going to tell me?”
“It’s good news and it’s no big deal.”
“Should I get Champagne?”
“How about you get a nice bottle of Chardonnay.”
An hour later Thom came through the door while she was on the floor sorting plastic dinosaurs with Jason. “I figured it out,” he said. “You were offered a permanent position.”
Wendy was currently subbing at Cambridge Rindge & Latin for a teacher who was on maternity leave. “No,” she said. “Better. I won a book contest.”
“What?”
“I won the first-book contest from Kenosha University Press. It’ll be published next fall.” Just now, saying the words made her realize for the first time that she’d beaten Thom to a dream they both had. But she saw no jealousy on his face, just pride.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said. “I’m so proud of you. Jason, are you proud of your mommy? She wrote a book.”
He held up a pterodactyl and made a roaring sound.
After dinner, and after they’d finished the wine, Thom insisted on going back out to buy an actual bottle of Champagne. “This needs to be a proper celebration.”
While he was gone she cleaned the kitchen, and managed to put Jason down for the night by readingOne Monster After Anothertwice through. Thom took so much time buying the Champagne that she began to think he’d gotten into an accident and died, which would make quite a story. Get a publishing deal, lose a husband. Maybe that’s how it should work. Good things should be balanced by badthings, and vice versa. She supposed that, in the end, it probably did work out that way. We are all equal at the close. Slowly backing out of Jason’s room then heading back downstairs, she heard Thom fumbling at the door. She let him in. Instead of carrying a single bottle of Champagne, he had a case in his arms. “I see,” she said.
“I told Al the good news, and somehow he convinced me I needed to buy a case of wine to celebrate. There’s one bottle of Champagne in there. It wasn’t cheap.”
They went out onto their front stoop with two glasses and toasted the book. “You’ll be next,” she said, then immediately regretted it.
“No, your second book will definitely be next. I’m a big fat maybe. But I don’t care. Maybe families shouldn’t have two writers.”
“We do have two writers already.”
“No, I know. I mean published writers.”
“Well...” Wendy said, trailing off.
“So how did you feel when you opened the envelope?” Thom said.
“It was such a bizarre mix of emotions. I felt glad, but also instantly... something. Anxiety, maybe. Terror. Mostly, I felt like somehow I’d put something over on them, like I’d gotten away with something. And then I read the judge’s citation, and it just got worse.”
“What’s that?”
“The judge of the contest, she wrote a piece about why I was selected.”
“I want to see it.”
“It’s awful.”
“What do you mean?”