Page 119 of Such a Good Couple
‘Annie! You don’t even realise how revolutionary all this is!’Clara had gestured wildly over wine just the week before. ‘We. Are. Revolutionaries. We could call it “Parent In Numbers: Don’t Let Your Baby Beat You Down!”’
‘This is in no wayouroriginal idea, Clara!’ Annie had laughed. ‘Hello? The “village”? People have been doing it like this for millennia; it’s just patriarchal, capitalistic systems that messed that up.’
Conor staying in Rachel’s studio had worked out well, though on nights that he was on Baby Shift, he often dozed on the chair in the corner of Annie’s room. But after this trip, it would all change again. The baby had started solid food and bottles. Annie was going back to work and the next phase would begin. Conor was moving back to his apartment and their joint custody arrangement was about to kick in. It felt like this would be crunch time in terms of whether their setup could actually work, but Annie was quietly confident. They’d been through so much together in the last year that they were very different people. They had a lot of compassion for one another, a compassion that’d been forged in grief.
Annie was relieved that Marni was now a robust roly-poly baby. The newborn time had been lovely but not relaxing – punctuated, as it was, by endless sudden panics: inexplicable high fevers, mysterious rashes and impressive arching milky vomits and explosive nappies. Oh God the fluids, the endless, endless fluids.
Tonight would be a real test of concept as Conor would be taking Marni for his first night of completely solo parenting. It was opening night ofMedea in Hollywoodin the Rivet Theater a few blocks from Times Square. Clara had arranged a babysitting service to take care of Dodi and Essie and the boys but Annie, Conor and Rachel all felt Marni was still too little to be left with anyone but family. At first Rachel had insisted thatshemiss opening night; she’d only known Maggie for a few months,after all. But Conor had been adamant: he wanted to, and he still wasn’t sure he definitely wanted to see the play. Maggie’s parents and siblings were also grappling with this question but maybe in time they’d be ready. The show would be on for several months and may be extended further depending on how sales went, so there was time for them to decide and come over.
Annie understood their indecision. Tonight was going to be strange for each of them in different ways. For her and Clara, it felt like they were about to hear Maggie’s voice from the other side. For Fionn, it’d be his first appearance in public all year. He had skipped the Oscars, as he’d said he would. He hadn’t won for Best Actor thoughFires in Vermontdid scoop Best Picture. They’d had their Oscars party in the Miavita house, staying up late watching the ceremony all together. Fionn cuddled the girls on the couch, and if he was upset at not having gone then he truly deserved the Best Actor award as he’d laughed and tickled the girls and generally joked around all night.
‘Okay, gang.’ Up front, Clara leaned around the passenger seat to get eyes on all five adults, five kids and one baby. ‘Shut up, all of you! Game plan time.’ She tapped on her tablet.
Annie caught Rachel’s eye and grinned. Clara even had an earpiece for her phone now: she was a born executive assistant. As she said herself, years of fielding the boys around had honed her skill for herding people with little to no sense.
‘So we’re about to arrive at our block. We have two apartments in the same building. Building codes and door codes are in your itineraries that I emailed you two weeks ago, so no one start on about how you can’t find it, okay?’ She glared around.
‘Yes, Clara!’ Conor replied.
‘Good. Directions to the dinner place are on the doc. Dinner is beside the Rivet Theater. Drew Schwartz and the other producers and some cast are joining us for a drink at the end,then we’re heading to the theatre together. Kids?’
‘Yes, Clara,’ the kids chimed.
‘You will be located in the apartment, being force-fed pizza and sweets. Check?’
‘Check!’
‘And not acting the maggots for the poor babysitters?’
‘And not acting the maggots for the poor babysitters,’ they repeated back gleefully.
There were a lot of eyes on the opening night ofMedea in Hollywood, for several reasons, most notably that Carrie Coon was playing Medea. When a big star was doing a theatre show it dialled up the scrutiny ten-fold. When that star was doing a show written by the wife of an A-lister who had died before it was staged, the intensity was off the charts.
Annie had expected a certain amount of interest in Maggie but had assumed people would be much more focused on the cast. Not so. If there’s a dead woman to speculate about, God knows people will speculate, and Annie and Clara had to consciously shut out the noise of social media as the press had ramped up and the story of howMedea in Hollywoodcame to be became widely discussed.
Now at last they were sitting in the densely packed stalls of the Rivet Theater and about to see Maggie’s work. It was a very strange sensation. They were about to hear from Maggie. It was hard not to imbue the experience with something of the supernatural. Would there be a message trailed like breadcrumbs through this ancient tale? Some hint at how it had all gone so wrong? Something to tell them?
The lights dimmed and a hush fell down around them. Annie leaned forward slightly to watch Fionn, Clara, Ollie and Rachel as the curtain rose.
Light filled her friends’ faces, as Maggie’s last words startedto ring out from the stage.
