Or we could go to noelle’s for ice cream
The sundaes are amazing
Augie Elling • 10:50 PM
If you’re not getting malts at Noelle’s, you’re doing it wrong.
Chat Efhart • 10:52 PM
Malts?
Definitely doing it wrong
Need you to show me your ways
Augie Elling • 11:02 PM
Yes. They’re iconic.
But okay.
Maybe.
Chat Efhart • 11:05 PM
I’ll take maybe
I should probably go to bed
I’m on a 5 yr old’s schedule
Augie Elling • 11:07 PM
Gnight
Congrats on second place.
Chat Efhart • 11:08 PM
I’ll take that, too
Good night, Augie
14
Danika was glad when Bill left town after the golf tournament. He had a business trip in Chicago Wednesday through Friday, and he’d been tense lately. The house felt better without him. They didn’t even sit down for dinner. Rather, she and Chat stood around the kitchen island next to the boys and picked at containers of olives and slices of Gruyère, or whatever casserole Zami had left in the freezer. Danika always had an extra glass of wine, standing against the counter with one leg bent, pressed to the other like a flamingo. Sometimes, at her encouragement, Chat had a beer.
Though this week, she would admit, they could have used Bill’s help. On top of regular activities, Cooper had three birthday parties, each competing to be the best: One was a rave complete with a DJ; the next was ranch-themed, with an entire farm of animals dumped on the front lawn; and the last was a monster tea party, featuring endless cookies and cakes. Danika already feared what Cooper would expect for his sixth birthday come fall.
Danika felt bad watching Chat rush from one place to the next. She thought about canceling plans to help, but she reminded herself that’s why they’d hired a nanny in the first place. She had a job now—she had work to do. She was also glad to have an excuse toavoid the other parents. It was a win-win. She’d even asked Chat to remind them she was busy working the Briar Ridge project. If it came up.
She knew she would come up. Word about the drama at the cabin had spread, and people were more intrigued than ever. A fire was excellent gossip. Under normal circumstances, Danika would be horrified, but she was glad it overshadowed the other passive-aggressive plays—the “Would You Rather” game and the crude remarks. Plus, the fire had been Bill’s fault, not hers. That was another pillar of marriage, Danika reasoned later: a constant exchange of blame.
Once everyone had gone downstairs after the fire, Bill had asked to talk to her in the garage. He had been desperate, red-faced. “Do you not understand,” he’d finally snapped, “that I invited them here for a reason? I need them to have a good time. Please, Danika. I need you to get it together.” Still, Danika had been drunk and indignant. She slurred that he was the one who needed to get it together, then left to go to the bathroom—and find Chat.
Now, Danika felt purely confused. It didn’t make sense why he needed those men in particular to have so much damn fun. It felt off, like he was hiding something. For the first time, Danika wondered if Bill was having an affair. She’d be surprised—while a flirt, he held himself to high moral (and religious) standards—but it’d be an explanation for his strange behavior.
Infidelity had always been a confusing topic for Danika. Her mother had been so proud she’d never cheated on her father while he was deployed, unlike so many others. “Do you see those broomsticks on the porches with the lights on?” she’d explained to Danika one evening as they drove around base at dusk. “That means they’re open for business. It’s an invitation.”
