“He asked! Do you want me to lie?”
“That’s the great thing about pharmaceuticals,” Ben says. “Business is always good. People always need drugs.”
“Well, Shelby would know about that,” Dan says darkly.
Shelby gives her father a cutting look. “Merry Christmas to you, too.”
Ben defends her. “Not anymore. She’s back in the Straight and Narrow Club.”
“I won’t go that far,” Shelby says.
“Shelby’s great,” Ben says. And they all look at him, a little surprised.
When it’s time to go, Shelby and Ben pile into the car with the dogs and the bags of presents. Ben’s mom has given him a collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s books—even though he’s read Cat’s Cradle a dozen times—along with a cutting board that will never fit on their countertop and a coffeemaker they will never use. She sent along Jo Malone cologne for Shelby, a fresh grapefruit scent that Shelby will regift to her mom on Mother’s Day. Ben has to get the car back to the rental company before five and there’s bound to be traffic, so they get going even though -Shelby’s mom keeps suggesting they spend the night.
“Your dad seems a little off,” Ben says.
“He’s unhappy. But instead of leaving he’s just making my mom’s life miserable. He thinks that’s more honorable.”
“They’ll work it out,” Ben says reasonably.
Shelby studies Ben as he drives. Maybe if she watches him closely enough she’ll understand what makes one person kind and another, herself for instance, mistrustful and hopeless. The more she thinks about her father the more she knows she and Ben are not meant for each other. They stumbled into each other’s lives one cold winter when they were both desperate for warmth, and if they stay together she will be the person who comes home late on Christmas Eve.
CHAPTER
3
Maravelle’s grandmother in Florida has fallen ill. Because she’s in her eighties and frail, Maravelle’s mother has already flown down to Orlando, and Maravelle hopes to join her, if Shelby will help her out.
“Fine, go,” Shelby says when Maravelle asks for time off. “I’ll find someone to cover for you. Take as much time as you need.” Shelby is known to be a soft touch when employees need time for personal reasons. Juan’s mother is getting radiation treatments, and Shelby lets him come in at noon every day so he can take his mom to the hospital.
“My kids will love you,” Maravelle says.
“Kids?” Shelby says, wary. “I don’t like kids.”
“You’ll like mine.”
“Why would I have anything to do with them?”
Maravelle grins. “You’re my babysitter, baby.”
Shelby might have used school as an excuse, she’s taking Advanced Biology, but it’s spring break, there are no classes, and if she doesn’t take a few days off from work she’ll lose her vacation time. Not that this is the vacation she had in mind. She was thinking she would sleep late, go to movie theaters during the day, and spend evenings at the Strand Book Store on Broadway looking for Ray Bradbury books she hasn’t yet read.
“I need you to watch them,” Maravelle insists. “You’re the only one I trust.”
This is probably the moment Ben had mentioned, when Shelby can show Maravelle she’s a true friend. This is beyond concert tickets. This is her life. As soon as she says yes, Shelby is furious with Ben. He always thinks she’s more human than she is. That night as she packs, Shelby won’t talk to him. She tends to blame him for whatever goes wrong.
“Don’t worry. There’s nothing to taking care of kids,” Ben assures her.
But Ben has nephews and nieces and is kindhearted. Shelby is nasty and ill-tempered. She shudders at the thought of babysitting. “I don’t even know how to talk to a child.”
“Talk to them like you talk to me,” Ben advises. “But without the curse words. They repeat what you say, like parrots.”
She’s agreed to three days with Maravelle’s children. And in Queens, a place she only travels through by train when visiting her parents. Because she has the dogs, Shelby takes a cab out to Astoria, which costs a fortune. It takes forty minutes with the meter ticking before the cab reaches the street of triple-deckers where Maravelle rents a ground-floor apartment. Shelby gets out and stands on the sidewalk, then walks up a weedy path. The bell doesn’t work and she has to bang on the door. Maravelle appears and embraces her. “You made it to Queens!”