Page 40 of Five Years

Ariana didn’t meet her eyes.

“I’m confused—”

“I think Grace wants me. I’ll talk to you later.” Ariana walked off toward the kitchen.

Grace was tending to a sniffly Ezra, and any planned itinerary quickly flew out the window.

Leah sat with the question:Did I really sleepwalk?

She noticed her clothes on the floor that morning, not folded neatly on the chair. There were drops of water by her nearly empty glass. It wasn’t unusual for her to knock things over whilesleeping—but usually the sound would wake her. Unless she was in a deeper sleep.

The signs were there.

TEN

“You love Chicago, right?” Grace asked.

“Uh-huh.” Leah played with Ezra’s toes, trying to distract him from crying.

“What do you love about it?”

The question felt off-topic. Minutes earlier, they’d been talking about Ezra’s sleep pattern and Grace’s ban on sex because, as she put it, her vagina was still having flashbacks from pushing out a ten-pound baby.

“Erm, I don’t know—the food?”

“What kind of food?” Grace probed.

“Erm, jibaritos.”

Shelovedjibaritos. To most people, it looked like any other sandwich, but the Puerto Rican recipe used flattened fried plantains instead of bread—game-changing.

“It’s probably been a while since you had one, huh?” Grace mumbled, bent over, rummaging through the largest of the three holdalls she’d travelled with.

“Do you need some help?” Leah asked, using her fingers to form a poorly shaped hissing snake—her dad had taught her all the shadow puppets as a kid. It was finally being put to good use.

Ezra laughed.

“Nope. I need . . .aha, found it!”

Grace rose triumphantly, holding a small stuffed duck. Its orange beak was matted from baby saliva.

“Is that Ducky?” Leah beamed.

“Of course. It’s his favourite.”

It wasn’t the most adventurous nickname, but Ezra seemed to love it. He clutched the duck and immediately shoved the beak in his mouth.

“Speaking of ducks, do you remember the time we went to Chicago for your birthday and you won that giant Daffy Duck stuffed animal from the arcade?”

Leah eyed her suspiciously. Grace usually refused to talk about that trip—it was the weekend she found out her boyfriend had been cheating. It had dampened the whole experience.

“Okay, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are we going to Chicago?” Leah cut straight to the point.

“We’re not,” Grace said, covering her eyes.