Chapter 14: Sunday at Martha's

Martha Draper set her table for five with the good plates and no flowers.

"Flowers give people something to hide behind," she said when I came into the dining room.

She looked at me for a moment, over the top of her glasses.

"You slept very little and very well, I'd say."

I opened my mouth.

"Take the chair on my left," Martha said. "Where I can keep an eye on you."

I had a feeling she was going to be right about everything that evening.

Trevor arrived with a bottle of wine he must have taken from the gym fridge, and kissed Martha's cheek.

Bianca came in last, in cream silk, with a hand on Nolan's sleeve and a smile for all of us.

"I just want us to be friends," she said, to nobody. "After everything."

Nolan didn't pull away.

He had a rule too, and his rule said Trevor was watching.

Dinner was roast chicken.

Martha carved it herself, in quick, exact strokes, and nobody dared offer to help.

Trevor talked through the first course about the gym's anniversary membership numbers.

Then he reached over and squeezed the back of my neck.

"Jo's been such a trooper," he said, to the table. "We've had a rough few years, haven't we, babe? With the, you know. Baby stuff."

I kept my fork perfectly still.

"The doctors say it's all on her side. I tell her, hey, we can always get a dog." He laughed, warm and easy.

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