When We Were Sisters by Emilie Richards Page A

to get home on time to meet Elena I had to blow off a meeting? I’ve been on the telephone all evening catching up with what I missed.”
    â€œOkay.” I turned away from him. I knew better than to say more because at moments like these words are dangerous weapons.
    He spoke to my back. “I don’t want to be this angry. For the record.”
    â€œDoes that mean you think you’re overreacting or that it’s my fault?”
    â€œI wish I knew.”
    I rolled over again and faced him. “I’ll be gone for a while on this first leg. Do you really want to say goodbye this way?”
    â€œRemember me? The guy who doesn’t want to say goodbye at all?”
    â€œ For the record , in case you’re still mulling over your choices? You’re overreacting.”
    â€œMaybe so, but how much worse could your timing be?”
    â€œFor which of us? The one who’s trying to figure out her life by doing something other than wait on her family hand and foot? Or the one who can’t figure out how to incorporate that same family into his world?”
    â€œLook, I know the accident has a lot to do with this.”
    â€œNot as much as you think. It just sped up the process.”
    â€œMaybe I’ll get used to seeing you walk out the door, Robin. Maybe I’ll even start to look forward to it. Who knows?”
    My voice remained steady, but only with great effort. “Could be. Maybe you’ll find having a paid housekeeper is every bit as good as having me. And maybe I’ll find that having no husband isn’t all that different from having you.”
    We stared at each other. The weapons had been launched. Maybe both of us were torn and wishing we could take back our words.
    Or maybe that was just me.
    I turned away again, and moments later I heard the bathroom door close behind him.

10
    Kris
    Robin’s gone. I had counted on waking up to say goodbye before her airport shuttle arrived. I wanted to wish her well and restore at least a fraction of goodwill, but apparently I lay awake for too much of the night thinking of exactly what I would say and how I would absolve us both. Midnight problem solving takes a toll. I didn’t hear her get up, much less go downstairs. Now she’s gone, and frankly I wouldn’t even be awake right now if Channa Weinberg wasn’t standing in the driveway next door sobbing.
    Channa, who lost her mother less than a month ago, a woman I admired and whose friendship I enjoyed. The same woman who took the place of my wife on the night of the accident.
    My wife? While Talya left this earth without a goodbye, this morning Robin left our home without learning how much she would be missed, how glad I am that she survived the accident, how sorry I am that I’ve been acting like an asshole ever since.
    Now I heard Michael comforting his daughter, although at this distance the words weren’t clear. But as I slid out of bed and started down the hall to wake my children, I wondered what I would say in the same circumstances.
    Michael probably understands what Channa needs, and acts accordingly, despite his own grief. Then there’s me. The man who fully intended to be a hands-on father and found that eking out the time was a lot harder than he expected. Of course I had the perfect stand-in. Robin is a wonderful mother who has always been right here so I can be a wonderful wage earner. And now she’s changed the rules and taken off to leave me in charge of both.
    The first glimmer of anger reappeared, and I welcomed it. I didn’t have enough time to be angry at myself and Robin this morning. I made the obvious choice. Suddenly I missed my wife less.
    Pet was already up, which I should have expected. Fully dressed for school, she opened her door and stared at me standing bleary-eyed in her doorway in my pajamas.
    â€œDoesn’t your bus come soon?” I wasn’t quite sure what time it was because I