I couldn’t speak.
“You should start preparing for divorce,” Vanessa said. She took a bite of her cookie. “That’s my advice. Woman to woman. Start thinking about where you’ll live. Talk to a lawyer. It’s easier if you see it coming.”
I stared at her.
Men get bored after that many years.
I thought about my eleven gray hairs. The hot flashes at three in the morning. The bathroom mirror. You look tired.
I thought about Irvin standing in her kitchen for forty-five minutes fixing a five-minute hinge.
“Get out of my house,” I said. My voice was shaking.
She stood up. She smoothed her skirt.
“Keep the cookies,” she said. “They’re his favorite. Chocolate chip. Did you know that? He told me.”
I did know that. I’d known it for seventeen years. I’d made them for him on our first date.
She walked out the back door. She didn’t close it behind her.
