A Long Thaw Read Free Page A

girls knew to check the mail before their mother, who had been known to hand over their envelopes after they’d been opened and emptied of cash.
    Hannah has just started high school. She’s fourteen. Lilly is ten and has long since stopped calling Juliet ‘Momma’. In fact, she doesn’t use that name for anyone. All three girls refer to their mother by her first name, Deirdre.
    Juliet’s jacket has lost all its buttons and she pulls it tighter around herself as the fall wind stings her face. The leaves on the sidewalk crunch beneath her feet as she walks toward the blue post-office box on the corner. She pulls the slot open with a creak and tosses the three envelopes inside.

Abby
    Abby hasn’t seen Juliet in ten years. That summer, they were both thirteen and had that special kind of girl-love that precedes the insecurity and competition of adolescence. They could spend an entire afternoon balancing precariously on rocks at the edge of the ocean, looking for starfish and empty crab shells and other beach treasures. They wore bathing suits that were stretched and faded with overuse. They pulled snails from the rocks, slowly so as not to harm them, and sat with them on their hands waiting for them to suction to their palms. They took turns burying each other in sand, then washed themselves off in the bone-chilling Atlantic, squealing as they bent their knees, the water rising to their belly buttons, armpits and, finally, their throats.
    They’d had no way of knowing it would be the last summer. If Juliet was aware that her parents were bound for divorce, she hadn’t let on. By fall, Juliet would be starting school somewhere in California. The exact address was never given. There would be no postcards between cousins, no more family outings to the beach.
    Their parents sat low in beach chairs, talking and giving out snacks periodically. Juliet’s mother was still breastfeeding Lilly. Hannah sat at her feet, the architect of a primitive mud castle. She was four then, too young to want to follow her older sister around.
    ‘Stay where we can see you,’ Abby’s mother would remind the girls, whenever they were in earshot.
    ‘They’re fine,’ Juliet’s father assured her. ‘Juliet’s a good swimmer, aren’t you, Jules?’
    Juliet beamed and puffed out her chest.
    ‘They’re both good swimmers, Allen.’ Rachel was squinting up at her brother with her hand against her brow like a visor. ‘This is the ocean.’
    ‘Just be careful, girls.’ Abby’s father sat under an umbrella, reading a book about the Civil War.
    Abby nodded, and Juliet took her hand, pulling her back to the frothy water’s edge.
    It’s Abby’s mother who tells her that Juliet’s living in Boston. ‘She’s working at one of the universities,’ she says. ‘Nana talked to her. Wanted me to give you her number.’
    Abby’s standing in the kitchen, leaning against the counter as she holds the phone to her ear. She finds a pen in a drawer and writes Juliet’s number in the address book she keeps by the phone, with no real intention of calling her.
    ‘Ryan’s moving out,’ Abby says.
    ‘Moving out?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Things seemed fine between the two of you last month.’
    ‘They were fine. Things are always just fine.’
    ‘Who decided this?’
    ‘Me, I guess. Although I think he’s relieved.’
    ‘When is he leaving?’
    ‘I don’t know. He’s looking for a place.’ Abby sighs.
    ‘Maybe you two just need some time apart.’
    ‘Maybe.’ There’s a knock at the door. ‘Someone’s here. I’ll call you later.’
    Abby walks to the door, pressing the hang-up button on the cordless phone. She peers out of the peephole and undoes the locks, swinging the door open with a smile.
    ‘What a surprise!’ Jasmine and Eric stand in the hallway. ‘Come in. You didn’t tell me you were coming.’ Abby hugs Jasmine while Eric stands back a bit, shifting his weight. When she lets go, she realizes Jasmine has a pained expression on