Daily Habits of Another Woman novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Shower

Glenda's front hall smelled of lilies and warm sugar.

Knox went in first, with a wrapped box from the drugstore under one arm, because a son does not come to his mother's shower empty-handed.

I came in behind him with the tablet in my tote bag.

A woman in a pink dress was taking coats, and she stopped with my coat half off my shoulder.

"Oh," she said. "Oh, honey."

Glenda appeared in the living room doorway, in her pearls and a lavender blouse.

She saw me, and her smile stayed where it was.

"Willa," she said. "I don't think today is the day."

"She's with me, Mom," Knox said.

"I made myself clear on the phone."

"You did." He put the box down on the hall table. "She's with me anyway."

Behind her, forty women had turned in their chairs.

Glenda looked at them, and at the pink-dressed woman holding my coat, and she understood that a scene in her own hall was worse than a guest she didn't want.

"Sit at the back," she said quietly. "Please don't make a fuss."

"I won't make a fuss," I said.

That was true.

I sat in the last row of folding chairs beside Knox, with my bag in my lap.

The living room was full of balloons.

A banner over the mantel said Welcome Baby in silver letters.

Nicolette sat in a wing chair at the front in pale yellow, with a gift bag at her feet and her hand on her stomach.

She saw me, and for one moment her face had nothing on it at all.

Then she smiled and waved, small and brave.

Corin stood by the television in a pressed shirt, holding his phone, and he did not look at me.

"Corin, dear," Glenda called. "Are we ready for the slideshow?"

"Ready, Mom."

The screen lit with a photo of Mark in a tuxedo, laughing, with Nicolette's arm through his.

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