The Friends We Keep

Hayley put the sheets in the washer. Her first full day at work since the surgery had left her tired and a little achy, but she still felt good. At least she’d accomplished something other than sitting around and feeling sorry for herself.

She turned on the machine, then went to the kitchen to start dinner. Now that she wasn’t working at Supper’s in the Bag, she was fully responsible for the meals, but that was okay. She and Rob enjoyed barbecuing and she would figure out the rest. She had a Crock-Pot she’d never made friends with. That could be a start.

She pulled chicken pieces she’d been marinating out of the refrigerator and put them on a plate. Her cell chimed with an incoming text.

I booked my hotel reservation for the weekend. I’ll drop the kids off at three on Friday.

Hayley stared at the words, then swore silently. In her smugness from standing up to her sister, she’d completely forgotten about her agreement to take her kids. She hadn’t discussed it with Rob at all.

Before she could decide what to text back, she heard Rob’s car in the driveway. He walked in a minute later.

“Hi,” he greeted her with a smile, then froze. “What’s wrong? Are you bleeding?” The color drained from his face as he crossed to her. “Hayley?”

In that moment she saw all that she’d put him through. How he’d suffered. It wasn’t that wanting kids was wrong, she thought sadly. Of course it wasn’t. But the price everyone had paid didn’t seem fair.

“I’m fine,” she said quickly. “Really, I’m good. Don’t worry.”

He relaxed. “Okay, then what’s wrong?”

“I did something stupid. Morgan wants to get away for a weekend and I said we’d take the kids. I’m sorry—I totally forgot to ask you about it. Now she’s made plans to drop them off on Friday. Is that all right or do you want me to tell her to reschedule?”

Rob pushed up his glasses, then cupped her face in his hands and kissed her mouth. “I love the kids. Of course they can stay. We’ll have fun.”

She smiled. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Is it this weekend?”

“Uh-huh. We’ll have to get out the blow-up beds for the boys. And, um, Amy’s going to need the bed in the spare room.”

The room where Rob was still sleeping.

He lowered his arms to his side. “You okay with that?”

She nodded. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too.”

She wanted to say more. She wanted to ask if they were okay. Because since the surgery, Rob hadn’t touched her. Not that they could have intercourse. She needed a few more weeks of healing, but still, there were other things they could do. Only there were issues standing between them. Things that hadn’t been talked about. She’d gone behind his back with selling the house and he’d left her. They both had things to answer for.

He smiled. “Let me go change my clothes, then I’ll start the barbecue. While it’s heating up, I want to hear about your day.”

Because that was normal, she thought wistfully. What they did now. But was it enough? She didn’t know how much had been lost. Worse, she didn’t know what the first move would look like, let alone who would make it. And without that, how could they possibly move on?

*

The world of immigration law, like much of the legal world, revolved around details. Facts, precedent, rulings, exceptions, exemptions, extensions.

Gabby found herself thrown in the deep end with her new job. She’d been given several ongoing cases and had spent her first few days trying to get up to speed. She’d done this sort of work before so had expected to jump right in. What she hadn’t realized was that her brain had changed. She wasn’t used to slogging through literally hundreds of printed or digital pages and retaining all the salient points. Eight paragraphs in, she found her attention wandering, so she had to go back and read them again and again.

While she’d been home with the girls, she’d tried to stay current with the changes in the law. She’d subscribed to a few online journals and had read them...or so she’d thought. What she’d actually done had been to skim them. Lightly skim them. And she’d apparently retained nothing.

Now it was Friday and she was exhausted. Not just by the change of having to be at a job—albeit only four hours a day—while juggling her family, but by her late nights. After the family was fed and everyone was in bed, Gabby had gone downstairs to read her cases, along with the applicable laws. Short nights, long days and plenty of legalese did not for perkiness make.