"So you climbed?" Dorothy asks him excitedly.
"Yeah," he says with a half smile. "I haven't lost it entirely."
"He hasn't lost it at all," I tell her. "He looked like Spiderman. Which was good because I wasn't entirely sure I was doing it right and didn't want to find out by watching him plummet to the ground."
"You don't need to worry about Will," says Dorothy. "He's a natural born climber."
"I wasn't worried about him," I reply with a grin at Will. "I just didn't know how to get home on my own."
Jessica's jaw drops but Will laughs. His reaction is the only one I care about.
"We should go climbing sometime," interjects Jessica, looking at Will. He blinks as if she's speaking in some foreign language he needs to translate. Or maybe he just forgot she was there, though that's hard to imagine given the way she's clinging to him.
"Sure," he says hesitantly. "I didn't think you were into it."
"Well, I'll never know until I try," she says with another bright smile. She turns to me. "So, Olivia, what are your plans for Thanksgiving?"
I shrug. "I don't know yet."
"You have to come here," says Dorothy, "if you're not going home, that is."
"Oh, I disagree," says Jessica decisively. "You should go home. It's important to keep those ties strong when you go away to school."
I smile tightly, managing to not roll my eyes. "I'll figure it out."
///
"Stay with us," Dorothy pleads. "It won't be the same without you."
I feel as if I've been put on stage and was never provided the lines. I don't want Dorothy to always feel like she has to take me in, but her last words have clearly made Jessica so very unhappy that I find myself agreeing just to see Jessica's face fall a little more.
After dinner, I start clearing the table and Jessica inserts herself there too, reaching for the dishes in my hands. "Here," she says. "Will and I can get this. You're the guest. You should sit."
For some reason, this completely reasonable statement makes me want to punch her in the face. I'm the guest, but she's not? She's the one they want around, and I'm the one they're forced to host?
"I'm good," I say, brushing past her to walk to the kitchen. I start rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher. She takes the bowls I've just placed there and moves them for no evident reason. "Isn't Will's family great?" she asks. "I'm surprised Dorothy doesn't have a houseful of pets. She just can't resist a stray, you know?"
And with that, she gives me that sunny pageant smile and walks back into the family room.
Will leaves with Jessica, and although I wish he were staying, it's a relief to escape his girlfriend's noxious presence. I sit on the couch with Dorothy.
"So that was Jessica, huh?" I say. "What a lovely girl."
"I think she was a little unsettled to find you here," replies Dorothy. "She's not normally quite so ... controlling."
"Will could do a lot better than that," I grumble. "I don't know what he sees in her." Okay, that's a lie. Anyone with two eyes knows what he sees in her. I guess I just expected more of him.
"Jessica is a nice girl," Dorothy sighs. "And Will's known her forever. Back in high school, Will's father hoped they'd get together, but Will was never interested."
"I see why he wouldn't be interested. What could they possibly have in common? She wore stiletto heels to a farm for God's sake."
"Maybe she isn't what I'd have chosen for my son, but it's not my choice to make. And she may be my daughter-in-law someday, so I need to make the best of it."
"You think he's going to marry her?" I ask incredulously. "Her? She's not good enough for him in a million years!"
Dorothy's face falls a little. "I think Jessica wants to get married," she replies carefully. "And she's pretty good at getting her way."
41
Will
The moment I saw Jessica's car in my mother's driveway, my stomach sank. I prefer to keep the various parts of my life-the farm, coaching, Jessica-separate. Her presence felt like an intrusion, but what could I possibly say? Jessica is a separate part of my life, but somehow Olivia is not. Olivia belongs at the farm. When I go and she isn't there something feels lacking. But since it's something I can't even explain to myself, how could I possibly defend it to Jess?
She was inside, sitting on the couch talking to my mom, who had her polite face on - the one she uses with strangers, except I couldn't remember her ever looking like that with Olivia.
"I thought I told you I couldn't meet tonight?" I asked. It was a struggle to keep the edge from my voice.
"I thought I could finally meet Olivia," she replied. "She seems to be spending a lot of time with your family."
Jessica is insecure about many things, and it became clear in that moment that Olivia was one of them. I should have expected it, I suppose. My interest in this job and the amount of time I put into it have increased exponentially since she joined the team.
I exhaled my frustration, knowing that if Jessica was already feeling insecure, actually seeing Olivia was not going to help. I went to shower, and my mother met me before I went out to the porch, where Jess was waiting.
"How much does Jessica know?" she asked.
"She knows Olivia has slept here before some of the meets," I said defensively.
"And does she know you stay here too?"
"It was implied."
My mother clicked her tongue in disapproval. "In other words, you never specifically addressed it and hoped she'd assume you were at your apartment. And she's about to see Olivia, who even the most secure woman would be jealous of, and discover you've been sleeping here with her."
"I haven't been sleeping anywhere with her," I snapped. "Jessica has nothing to worry about. You're making a big deal out of nothing."
///
She shook her head and walked ahead of me to the front door. "For all the girls you've run through in your short life, Will, you still don't know much about women."
And when I followed her outside and saw the looks on both their faces, I knew she was right.
Jess's silence tells me everything I need to know when we get to her apartment.
"Are you okay?" I ask. I want her to smile and move on, but I know she won't, which means we remain in this ugly sort of limbo until we've talked. And talks with Jessica don't necessarily go well. The only way you seem to achieve resolution is by promising something more than you are really willing to promise.
She sighs. "That's the girl who's been sleeping at your mom's house?"
"Yeah, I told you about her."
She sucks in her cheeks and her jaw shifts beneath them. "She's pretty."
Her words are a trap. If I agree, I open a whole new universe of insecurity. But denying it is pointless. You'd have to be blind not to notice Olivia. Increasingly, of late, it seems I'm incapable of noticing anything else.
"I guess."
"So you were hanging out with her last night?"
"Jess," I groan. "Don't make this weird. She's just one of my athletes."
"She doesn't seem to know that."
"Believe me, Olivia is well aware of the fact that she's one of my athletes. I've never been fought so hard by someone in my life."
"That's not what I mean, Will. She acts like..." she trails off, her frustration mounting.
"Like what?"
"Never mind. I just don't see why she has to stay with your mom."
"She just found out her brother was murdered, Jessica," I say, hearing an edge slip into my voice. "Do you really want to begrudge her having people around while she deals with it?"
"No, but the people don't have to be you and your mom."
"She's only been here for two months. She doesn't know anyone else."
"Well, I don't think she should be staying with your mother anymore."
I feel my temper inching up, and I do my best to keep my tone stable. "And why is that?"
"Because it looks bad. I work in public relations, and I'm telling you right now that no one is going to believe you're hanging out with a girl who looks like that out of the kindness of your heart."
"I don't give a shit what anyone believes," I snap. "She has the ability to be a world-class runner, and she's leading our women's track team to its first winning season in a decade. If staying with my mom makes the difference, she's staying with my mom."