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And he had. So congrats on being right.
Maeve loved to be right. After all, she had predicted the demise of her own marriage ten years ago and had held onto the bitterness like a dog with a chew toy. Every now and then she squeaked about how she was destined to be alone. That it was the lot of women, even the ones who claimed to be happy. (No one is truly happy in a relationship, per Sister Maeve.)
But Ashley was grateful for the place to live. Greg had other commitments: the new baby with his new-ish girlfriend, Lottie. Maintaining two households was impossible right now.
Maeve opened the fridge and took out the cheese plate she’d prepared earlier for her book club.
“Everyone needs an incentive, especially kids.”
“She needs to know that homework isn’t transactional. It’s required and I’m not paying her—in ice cream or anything else—to do it.”
Maeve squinted. “What’s up?”
“Nothing.”
“No, seriously, you seem kind of stressed.”
Ashley threw up her hands. “I’m living with my sisters, my ex is stiffing me on support, I have no social life, and I constantly smell of wet dog.”
“So what else is new? I thought you were going to try that dating app—Skin Deep. Though it sounds kind of desperate.”
“From the person who gave up on dating nine years ago.”
Her sister shrugged, just as Vera, Ashley’s other sister, walked in. “Anyone read this book? I like the hitman character best.”
“Ashley’s having one of her crises.”
Vera grabbed the wine from the fridge and a glass from the rack. “Worried you’re going to die alone?”
“No!” Well, yes.
“She’s thinking of bailing on the dating app you recommended.”
“Bailing” was such a defeatist word. Anxious to not sound like she was giving up on life, Ashley chimed in with a compromise, one she often fell back on in times of stress. “Maybe when Willa’s older …”
“That’s the spirit,” Vera said with a knowing grin. “Best to put it off as long as possible. See how your elders handle it.”
Both her sisters were divorced, though Vera the middle child wasn’t quite as miserable about it as Maeve. Vera saw it as a chance to bang anything that moved and spent more time out of the house than in. Where Maeve thought of men as the enemy, Vera saw them as compatriots in decadence. Neither of them were looking for new relationships; they’d been hurt too much before.
And now Ashley was here, a year out from her separation, and she felt herself slipping into a deep, dark hole. One constructed by Maeve, where the sides were doused in grease by Vera. Stay in your lane. Misery loves company.
She loved her sisters, but their attitudes toward relationships gave her pause. Though they were careful not to dwell on man-bashing negativity and extracurriculars in front of their niece, it was impossible to avoid some bad-mouthing of her ex to creep in. Ashley didn’t want her daughter to grow up thinking all men were losers, even if that was an appropriate label for the most prominent one in her life.
“It’s all very casual anyway. I only downloaded it because I was app-curious.” It was far too soon to be worried about being left on the shelf at the ripe old age of thirty.
Maeve frowned. “But why one with no photos?”
“Because looks aren’t important.”
Vera gave a dirty grin. “Yeah, I had this super ugly dude who really knew how to float my boat. It was like he made the extra effort. Grateful.”
“That’s not what I’m interested in.” Good grief, she hoped she’d be attracted to anyone she met, but she was conscious of her daughter’s impressionable age, and how she had recently come home from school crying because someone called her Four Eyes.
Ashley worried that she gave off the wrong vibe to her daughter, one that implied looks were overly important. So her father had traded her mother in for a newer, younger model, and Lottie was barely twenty-two and absolutely gorgeous with a firm, stick-thin body, even after the baby’s birth, but that didn’t mean those who were left behind were suddenly less valuable.
Removing the focus on how people looked seemed like one way to help her daughter see that what was inside mattered. A small blow for abandoned women everywhere.
“Looks aren’t everything and neither is sexual attraction. Compatibility is more important.”
