The Neighbors Are Watching by Debra Ginsberg

and Frank were attorneys. What were the chances? And that was the only reason they’d been able to pull off what they had with the boys. Frank’s cruel treatment of Gloria since then—well, that was just an added bonus. At least Noah wasn’t attempting to poison Connor against his mother the way Frank was with Justin.
    Sam put the kettle on for tea and cleaned up the remainder of the carrot juice mess as she waited for the water to boil. They couldn’t have hidden their relationship—not really—but they could have been more discreet about it. And by discreet, Sam only meant not rubbing Frank’s nose in it, which was what Gloria seemed to want to do.
    “I don’t want us to sneak around,” Gloria said. “That’s not who I am. I’m not ashamed of anything.”
    All well and good, Sam thought, until the phone call from Frank’s partner at the firm. God, he’d marshaled half the damned county. Too much money. Too much ego. Sharp tears stung Sam’s eyes again when she thought of how horrible it had been to tell the boys that they had to pack up and go back to live with their fathers. Gloria had handled it so well—smiling, joking, making them all Mickey Mouse waffles withwhipped cream for dinner with to-hell-with-it abandon. But later, when the kids had gone to bed and after she’d gone upstairs and closed herself in the bathroom, Gloria lost it completely, sobbing like a lost child, as unhappy as Sam had ever seen another human being.
    The kettle whistled. Sam put boiling water and a peppermint tea bag into a large clear mug and carried it upstairs.
    “Gloria?” she called again. “You okay?”
    But of course she wasn’t.
    Gloria was lying on their bed, the familiar damp washcloth over her eyes and blue foam earplugs in her ears. Well, that explained the lack of response at least. She didn’t stir until Sam sat down next to her, making the bed shift.
    “Hey.”
    Gloria removed the earplugs and washcloth. “Headache,” she said. Her eyes were red and watery.
    “I made you some tea.”
    “Thanks,” Gloria said but made no move to take the mug. Sam set the tea down on the end table and took Gloria’s hand, clammy and cool, in hers.
    “I was thinking,” Sam said, “that maybe we could take the train downtown and go to Extraordinary Desserts? What do you think? It’s a beautiful day and it would be a nice ride. Something different. I’ll treat.”
    Sam gave Gloria credit for at least trying to force a smile and didn’t take any away when it failed to materialize. Gloria gave her hand a little squeeze.
    “I don’t think so, Sam. Don’t think I’m up for it. Maybe a drink later. Or something.”
    Suddenly exhausted, Sam lay down on the bed next to Gloria who rolled into her, wrapping her in a full body embrace. They lay like that for a minute, then two. Sam’s breathing slowed and her eyes started to close. Then Gloria started crying, softly at first, then increasingly hard until her whole body was shaking.
    “Honey,” Sam said and stroked Gloria’s back with long sweeping passes of her hand.
    “It’s too hard,” Gloria said, her words muffled with tears. “It’s not supposed to be this hard.”
    “I know,” Sam said.

september 2007

chapter 5
    D orothy stared at the picked-over remains of a roast chicken that she’d just pulled out of the fridge. Two days ago, it had seemed like a good idea to make chicken salad for the block party, but now she couldn’t figure out how she’d even come to that conclusion. Didn’t matter if it was the best chicken salad in the world—it would still just be chicken salad. How boring and uninspired could you get? And Dorothy had arranged this block party herself. As the organizer, shouldn’t she bring something exciting—something that at least had a little flair? Of course. It was Labor Day and certain kinds of food were expected: burgers, hot dogs, that kind of thing. But Dick was taking care of the burgers and she should really make something