Even if that new life might have been lovely.
Russ’s son pulled on his arm. “Dad, I’m done. Can we eat now?”
“This is my son, Liam,” Russ said. “Liam, this is my friend, Cherry. She’s a robber baron and a good dancer.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Cherry said.
Liam nodded, immediately cutting his eyes away. “Dad, can we eat?”
“Yeah.” Russ looked at Cherry and raised his eyebrows, like,What’re you gonna do?
Cherry smiled. “There are hot dogs on the porch. And hand-scooped ice cream.”
“It was good to see you,” he said.
“It was good to see you, too.”
Russ half turned. Then turned back. He looked earnest. “I will always be happy to see you, Cherry.”
It might have been lovely.
Chapter 70
Cherry wanted to call Tom and crow about the museum opening, but he was out to dinner with movie people. It was a late dinner, and he was two hours behind Cherry on the clock—she’d be asleep by the time he got back to his hotel...
...ifshe could sleep.
Cherry had too much time on her hands again with Tom gone. Too much space. Too much quiet.
The ambient noise about theThursdaymovie was getting harder to block out. Cherry couldn’t look at any news sites. She kept getting ads forThursdayon Instagram.
She didn’t like being reminded that Tom was important to so many people whom neither of them had ever met. That he was a titan. She needed to keep him man-sized in her head.
Seeing Russ at the museum had unnerved Cherry.“That goddamn trailer,”he’d said.
What had Hope said? That the first trailer was so much worse than the second. Specifically so much worse for Cherry.
Howwas it worse?
Cherry already knew about the actress and the fat suit.
She’d been so disciplined about this fucking movie... About not inviting it into her brain. Not giving herself extra content to obsess over.
“Thefirsttrailer?”Hope had said.“Oh no.”
Was there something egregious? A fat joke? (Beyond the walking, talking fat joke that was Baby herself?)
Cherry shouldn’t watch it—she’d regret watching it. The way she always regretted looking atThursday.
(Shehadto separate the art from the artist. The husband from the id. Her marriage from... whateverThursdaywas. Figments. Jokes. Ideas.)
“Oh no,”Hope had said.
“Don’t watch it,”Meg Jones said.
Stacia:“You don’t need it.”
Faith:“You’re so much prettier, Cherry.”
