“And,” Izzy added, tone faux-casual. “How areyou?”
Maggie forced a smile. “Oh, you know. Fine. Great. Totally thriving.”
Kiera gave her a look — the one that screamed high school teacher. “Maggie.”
Maggie tipped her head back against the couch cushion, staring at the popcorn ceiling. “It’s like… the house feels different now. Quieter. Like something’s missing, but you’re not supposed to say it out loud because then the kids will hear you and realize it too.”
Izzy’s grin slipped. “It’s wild that Gwen really moved out.”
“Yeah,” Maggie said, her voice dipping quieter as she eyed Rosie concentrating on a sheet of puffy stickers across the room. “She’s… around. For the kids. We worked it out. Every other weekend with her, all weekdays with me. They don’t know the details, not yet. To them it’s just… Mama gets her sleepovers with Auntie Colette, and Mommy gets to make pancakes when she’s here.”
Kiera’s brow furrowed. “And how are you doing with that?”
Maggie blew out a laugh that scraped at her throat. “Depends on the hour. Sometimes it feels like freedom, like I can finally breathe without waiting for her work calendar to clear. And sometimes it feels like… I don’t know… like I left half my heart at the curb with her suitcase. But hey, at least the Wi-Fi still works.”
They were both quiet for a beat, Izzy’s mouth twitching like she wanted to crack a joke but couldn’t quite get there. Maggie could feel the conversation tipping into territory she wasn’t ready for. So she did what she always did. She swerved.
“Anyway,” she said brightly, “enough about me and my thrilling divorcée sitcom.”
Izzy’s smile was laced with pity. “At least we’ll be seeing you soon at the wedding.”
“Hopefully,” Maggie muttered, watching Arlo and Jude run into the room again. “If the Nerf crossfire doesn’t get me first.”
The kids shrieked again in the background, and Maggie held the phone steady, letting them wave and shout their goodbyes.
By the time she hung up, the living room was a disaster, Rosie was begging for cookies, and Maggie’s chest felt scooped out and full all at once.
She closed her eyes for a moment, leaning back against the couch, hearing her therapist’s voice again:Is it true, or is it just the seed you’re watering?
But she shoved the thought away. Focused on the joy on her friends’ faces. That was easier.
Much easier than the silence pressing at her from every corner of the house.
Danica named the conversation “Wedding Mayhem“
Danica
Okay, Michigan venue is officially booked. Walloon Lake, baby.
Pete
Hell yes. Midwest gay wedding supremacy.
Izzy
Can’t wait to see cornfields and couture in the same weekend.
Pete named the conversation “Corn to be Wild”.
Kiera
She will not listen to me when I say there aren’t cornfields. It’s a lake.
Izzy
Cornfields are never far away in the Midwest. Don’t ruin my vision.
Maggie
