Menage by Alix Kates Shulman Page A

small jet once the L.A. deal was consummated, Heather be damned.
    When he returned home a couple of hours later, he found his wife and children outdoors collecting mums, wild asters, and maple leaves to decorate the house. Breakfast was over. He poured himselfa cup of coffee from the thermos, smeared cream cheese on a bagel, and sat down at the kitchen table to watch them through the window. Against the wooded backdrop with sunlight filtering through the yellow leaves, they looked like some misty painting of autumn, or of dancers romping in a garden, he thought, trying to see them through Zoltan’s eyes.
    Jamie walked toward the house carrying something in his small, cupped hands. Mack opened the kitchen door for him. “What you got there, James?”
    â€œNewts.”
    â€œLet’s see.”
    Jamie lifted one hand just enough for Mack to see two delicate red salamanders with tiny black spots nestled in his palm. Quickly Jamie snapped the cup of his hands closed.
    â€œWhoa, pal, not so tight. You could crush them. What are you planning to do with them?
    Chloe ran through the doorway. “Mommy says we can put them in the old aquarium we used to keep the fish in, with a screen on top so Tina can’t get them and they can’t get out. We’re going to feed them flies and fish food. Would you like me to find some newts for you, Daddy?”
    â€œWhy yes, Chloe, I’d love that. Thank you, babe.”
    She tugged at his hand. “Come on. I’ll show you how to catch them.”
    â€œNot now, though,” said Mack. “We have to get ready for our houseguest. But we can go out and look as soon as we get back from the airport.”
    Heather emptied an armful of flowers into the big kitchen sink and turned on the water. “Mack! Please! Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
    â€œOkay, maybe tomorrow then,” said Mack, backing down.
    â€œPromise, Daddy? Promise?”
    â€œTomorrow’s Monday,” Heather reminded him. “Or were you planning to come home early?” She resented being forced to intervene.
    Mack sighed. The day had just started and already she was criticizing his parenting. As if he would fail to do right by his own kids. She was irrational on the subject: urging him to spend more time with them yet not allowing them up in his plane. He lifted Chloe in his arms, hugged her. “I promise it’ll be as soon as I can, babe.”
    Heather kissed him on both cheeks. Today was not the day to bicker. “I know what,” she said. “Why don’t you guys go out and get some pretty pebbles for the newts. Jamie, here’s a pot you can put the newts in until I bring up the aquarium. Now go on, you two.”
    She looked at her watch. Only four hours until he’d be here.
    Seeing Heather check her watch, Mack checked his. “I have to leave for the airport pretty soon. Do you want me to lay the fire and set up the music before I go? Glenn Gould? Monk?”
    â€œWhatever you think.”
    â€œOkay. Then when you hear us drive up you can just light a match and throw a switch. I’ll take the Porsche. Would you like me to pick up anything?”
    â€œSome of those chocolate truffles they sell at the airport?”
    She was glad Mack was going by himself. She needed the time to get ready. It would be easier for her, of course, if he took at least one of the kids along with him. When they knew she wanted everything tidy, they were usually at their most rambunctious; but she and Mack had agreed that a child in the car, even a quiet one in the back seat, might be too much family for Zoltan all at once. First impressions counted for so much.
    BACK WHEN THEY STILL lived in the city, Heather and Mack had sometimes hosted witty dinners on weekends for their friends, with her startling pastasand his flaming desserts, but all that ended when they moved. Their friends from the city, reluctant to go all the way to New Jersey,