Andy was very quiet with Page when he came home, and she noticed it immediately.
“Something wrong?” she asked as she tucked him into bed that night. He had scarcely said a word to her all through dinner. Usually he raved about whatever it was he had done with his father. “You feel okay?” She felt his neck and his back but he wasn't hot. He was very cool, but his eyes looked worried, as his head rested on his pillow.
“Yeah.” He looked as though he was on the verge of tears and she didn't want to leave him. “Dad said … I can't tell you.” He didn't want to hurt her feelings.
“Did you two get in some kind of argument today?” Maybe Andy had done something really dangerous and Brad had swatted him on the behind, but it wasn't like him. But Andy only shook his head and continued to look unhappy.
But after a few minutes, he couldn't contain himself anymore, and he started to cry as he lay there.
“Oh sweetheart,” she said, and held him close to her as she lay next to him on the bed. “You know Daddy loves you, whatever he said to you today.”
“Yeah …but …” he choked on the words as he clung to her “…he has a girlfriend. Her name is Stephanie,” he said miserably. It was out now. He had told her, and she smiled through her own tears as she held him.
“I know. It's okay. I know all about her.”
“Have you seen her?” he asked, looking amazed as he pulled away from her, but his mother shook her head, thinking how sweet he looked as he lay there.
“No, I haven't. Have you?”
“At lunch. She was terrible. She's skinny and dumb and ugly, and she hates me.”
“I'm sure she doesn't. She's probably scared of you, and wants to make a good impression.”
“Well, I hated her. And Dad says I have to try to like her.” It was serious then, Page thought to herself. If he was pressing Andy on her, maybe they were planning to get married. She felt a tug at her heart at the thought, but knew that, like Andy, she'd have to get used to the idea that Stephanie was part of Brad's life now, perhaps forever. “Why don't you just try?” Page said gently. “She may be nicer than you think when you get to know her. She must have something good about her, if Dad likes her.”
“No, she doesn't,” he said, and wiped his eyes. “I hate her.” And then, with worried eyes, he asked her a question.
“Do you think Daddy will ever come back to us?” he asked anxiously. That was what it was all about. Stephanie was a threat to Brad's safe return to Andy's mother.
“I don't know,” Page said honestly. “I don't think so.”
“But if he marries her, he can't come back to you.” He looked at Page miserably. “I hate her.”
“No you don't. You don't really know her. And Dad's not marrying her yet. I think you're worrying too much.” But she also knew he wasn't wrong. They probably would get married.
“They're going to Europe this summer. That means he won't take us on vacation.” He didn't understand that Brad wouldn't have taken them on vacation now anyway. But it irked her to hear that Brad was taking Stephanie to Europe. He had never taken her, and she had wanted to go for years. She hadn't been since before she married Brad, with her parents.
“We shouldn't leave Allie anyway,” Page said quietly. “Does Daddy want to take you with him?” He hadn't said anything to her, but maybe he would eventually. But Andy just shook his head.
“They're going alone. For a month.” Page nodded as she listened. He had his own life now, and they had theirs. And she had Trygve.
“Let's not worry about it now, okay? Daddy loves you very much, and so do I. And I'll bet his friend is really very nice, and you'll get to like her.”
He growled a little bit about it again as she tucked him in, and the next day he was still grouchy over breakfast. To him, the threat of Stephanie meant only one thing: Brad was not coming back to him, or his mother. And then he looked up from breakfast suddenly and asked Page a question that tore at her heart. She had to turn away so he wouldn't see her crying.
“What are we going to tell Allie about Dad? When she wakes up I mean? How will we tell her?” Page looked out the window and blew her nose as she struggled for an answer. If only one day they'd have a chance to talk to Allie.
“We'll figure something out by then.”
“Maybe Stephanie will die' he said angrily, and Page almost laughed when she turned around to face him. He was so emphatic, he was almost comical. She chased him out to the garden then, and her mother called a few minutes later.
She had nothing new to say except that Alexis had developed a frightful ulcer. It didn't surprise Page at all. It was something that happened to anorexics. From starving themselves their stomach acids began eating through their stomach. But of course her mother said it was because Alexis was naturally nervous.