Cole came down at ten and asked if Dad was at a hotel. Lisa said Uncle Mike’s. Cole said, “He said one time.” Lisa said, “He said that to stop a question. It is not a number I trust tonight.” Cole nodded the way twelve nods when it is trying to be older. She did not send him back up. They ate cereal. Cereal was not a speech. It was a bowl. They needed a bowl more than a speech.
Pam arrived with coffee and the fury and a box of donuts Cole ate two of. She read the thread because Lisa asked her to, not because she wanted the pictures. She said Heather had a name and a clinic and a habit of hearts in the texts, and that the hearts were embarrassing, and that Rick was a fool who had used a flute concert as camouflage. Lisa said the fool part she had. Pam said, “What do you want before the next snap of your actual life.” Lisa said she wanted him out of the bedroom until she decided the house. Pam said that was a start.
Rick came at noon in the gray shirt. Lisa met him on the step so Cole would not have to be the audience again. The step was cold. He said he was sorry. She said sorry was a commercial. He said it was three times, not one, and he was correcting the record. She said the correction was late and noted. He asked to see Cole. She asked Cole. Cole came to the door and did not hug. Rick said he had lied. Cole said I heard. Rick said he would be at Mike’s. Cole said okay. The okay was a door closing politely. Rick left. The jersey stayed on the banister until Lisa put it in a bag for the garage. The replica on Cole’s floor stayed. She did not make the boy surrender a team because his father had worn it badly.
Mike called Lisa that night and said the couch was available and he was not taking sides in public and he was taking a side in private, which was that his brother was an idiot. Lisa said the idiot could stay on the couch. Mike said understood. Understood was a word she was collecting. She had Pam’s fury and Mike’s couch and Cole’s cereal. She did not have a plan past the week. The week was enough to start.