Page 104 of Devil in Disguise

“What do I think? That he better enjoy peeing out of that stub if he cheats on me, that’s what I think. Like I said, my parents were Army. What doyouthink, Miss Nineteen?”

“I think,” Dyma said, “that I don’t need a guy who cheats, and I don’t need a guy who doesn’t respect my boundaries, either. I’ve got a life.”

“Ooh,” Charliese said. “So, no compromise?”

Dyma drained her glass. “Nope.”

“Girl,” Charliese said, “you and the NFL are going to have one rocky road.”

44

In Charge of Me

Jennifer cameover at some point much later and asked, “Ready to go? I wish I didn’t have to, I’m having such a good time, but I need to go feed Nick. Hi,” she told the others, with some of those almost-cheek-kisses. “How are you? How’s your baby girl, Charliese? Is she walking yet?”

“She sure is,” Charliese said. “Took her first steps when her daddy was home, which was considerate of her.”

“I’m dying to see a video,” Jennifer said, “but I’malsodying of engorgement here, so …” Like a woman who wasn’t fancy at all, and also didn’t care about any status rules to do with fiancées vs. girlfriends vs. wives or how much money the guy made or whatever. Which, yes, was another reason everybody loved her.

“You go on,” Charliese said.

“Happy New Year!” Jennifer said. “I’ll see you on Sunday!”

“That’s a gift,” Dyma said, when they were outside again and she was settling into the ridiculously comfortable passenger seat of the Mercedes, which was more like a first-class airplane seat than the first-class airplane seat itself. “How do you remember everybody like that?”

“Years as an executive assistant, and more years of life,” her mom said. “Everything in this world runs on personal relationships. Also,” she added, just when Dyma was thinking that she might actually have some cynicism in her, “it makes life so much nicer to have them, doesn’t it? People who are doing their jobs are still people, and personal connection is the whole point of life.” She stopped talking. “Wait. Your voice sounds strange. Have you been drinking?”

“Well,yeah,”Dyma said. “How else was I supposed to survive? And, all right, you were right and I was wrong. I was wearing exactly the wrong clothes. Enjoy it. I have no choice but to concede it. Anyway. Would you drop me off at Owen’s?”

“Are you sure he’s home? Harlan said they’d get off early today, but …”

“I don’t care. If he isn’t, I’ll wait.”

“It’ssnowing.”

“I don’t care. I’ll wait anyway.”

“Seriously,” Jennifer said, “you’re slurring your words a little. That wasn’t really responsible. What about the bowling alley’s liquor license?”

“Maybe they should’ve carded me, then.” Dyma knew, in a dim sort of way, that she sounded sullen. She couldn’t help it. Her head was spinning a tiny bit, and she didn’t have perfect control of the words coming out of her mouth.

“You don’t only do the right thing when you’ll get caught,” Jennifer said. “You’re supposed to do it because itisright.”

“Mom. Seriously. Spare me. I’m so close to … I don’t even know what.”

“If you’re going to be sick,” Jennifer said, “let me know so I can pull over. You arenotthrowing up in my beautiful car. Nick gets to throw up. You don’t.”

“Excuse me? Support?”

“I’ll support you.Outsidethe car. Seriously, Dyma, I can’t even …”

They were at Owen’s, though, so Dyma didn’t have to listen to what Jennifer couldn’t even.

* * *

Owen wasin the hot tub when the doorbell rang. He stayed where he was. It felt good, and there was only one group of people who still rang your doorbell without checking first. Missionaries. He had no desire to talk to missionaries. His soul was just fine, or if it wasn’t … well, he was just going to have to be doomed, because he wasn’t talking to missionaries.

The doorbell rang again, and he leaned his head back and focused on breathing out the stiffness. It rang a third time, and he lifted his head and swore.