Page 103 of Devil in Disguise
“Everybody saw at least a little bit of that show. You’dthinkthey wouldn’t watch, but—human nature. Of course they did. And I’m not saying you look great now, but in comparison …”
“Iknow,”Dyma said. “I was studying! It was finals! I had no idea who those people even were. And then I lost my temper.”
“Yeah,” Nadia said with another smile. “I noticed that. But—hey. You OK? Your mom doing all right with it? She’s a nice lady.” She grimaced. “She’s probably about six years older than me, but that’s how she seems. Like a nice lady.”
“Comes from having me so early,” Dyma said. “And having to be too responsible too soon, as everybody now knows. And yeah. She saw the show on Christmas. Harlan, too. It was pretty emotional.”
“OnChristmas?Baby, your family likes to have a goodtime.”
Dyma laughed. “It was so awful, you cannot imagine. My great-grandpa. Harlan’s little sister. Everybody. Ugh. So I should really just hide away, huh? Go sit in the ladies’ room?”
“No,” Nadia said. “You should stick out that chin of yours and have fun bowling. Come on. Let’s get you a drink, and I’ll introduce you.”
Did she drink champagne? Yes, she did. Hey, it was mimosas. Vitamins. Did she bowl? She did that, too. Why not? She was basically invisible, and besides, she could either be brave or humiliated. The women Nadia introduced her to were nice enough, but most of them weren’t exactly effusive. They were also exceptionally well-groomed, and they appeared to have zero interests in common with Dyma.
It was probably the too-many mimosas and stuffed mushroom caps and cheese puffs—this lunch wasnotvegetarian-friendly—that had Dyma asking Nadia and another woman, Charliese, after she’d bowled a strike and done a little dance about it, sincesomebodyhad to celebrate, then come back and dropped into a chair at their table, “Is it my imagination, or am I getting a little bit ignored?”
“Nope,” Charliese, a short woman with a twinkle in her eye and a sardonic drawl, told her. “And that’s not just your clothes, even though you areseriouslyunderdressed. It’s not your personality, either. Your personality’s all right. In fact, it’s just fine. It’s that you’re not even engaged. You’re new, and there’s a hierarchy. Wives, then fiancées, then girlfriends.”
“Except that my mom’s sure popular,” Dyma said.
“Ah,” Nadia said. “But then, she’sHarlan’sfiancée, and you’ve got sorting by position, too. Also, they have a baby. She’s clearly sticking around, and she’s got the jewelry to prove it.”
“So you get your status from the guy?”
“Well, yeah,” Nadia said. “Not that there aren’t real friendships, too. Otherwise, why would we be talking to you?”
“Good point,” Dyma said. “You seem oddly analytical. Dare we say coolly analytical?”
Charliese laughed. “We dare. So listen. You’re in college, right? Got dreams? Got plans?”
“Well, yeah. Engineering.” She didn’t say the “Aeronautics and Astronautics” thing. It didn’t feel like the moment.
“Here’s a data point for you, then,” Charliese said. “You may think you’re looking at a bunch of airheads, but every woman here has dreams of her own. They aren’t dummies. They’ve set ’em aside, though, because the NFL isn’t real good at sharing. My parents were both Army. People used to say, ‘If the Army wanted you to have a wife, they’d have issued you one.’ Which means—go on and have a wife. Have a family. But don’t expect anybody to support you doing it. Meanwhile, her job is to supporthim.Full-time.”
“Harlan took a week off after Nick was born,” Dyma said. “It seemed like it was a big deal. Oneweek.And he hadsurgery.”
“It sure was a big deal,” Nadia said. “Didn’t go over well with management at all. But like I said—Harlan’s got the stats to get away with it, and you can bet he made that calculation.”
“Least he had the grace to get his mom’s body dug up during the offseason,” Charliese said.
It took a second. “Wow,” Dyma said. “You’re as bad as me. That wasterrible.”
Charliese said, “Yeah, sorry. I never did learn to keep my mouth shut. Also, I’m just a girlfriend myself. Gotta laugh about it, or it’ll drive you crazy. The one who’sreallygoing downmarket here is Nadia. But that’s because we’re an interesting study.”
“A study of what?” Dyma asked.
“For her doctorate,” Charliese said. “Some kind of thing about the culture of the NFL and its effect on families. That’s the only way you’d get the real story on that, is from the inside. And the crazy thing is—everybody tells her shit anyway! How much they worry that their man’s cheating, and how eager they are to tell her they aren’t worried at all. Whether you can turn down your man for sex. Answer’s ‘no,’ by the way. They tell hereverything.”
“Wait,” Dyma said. “The answer’s no? What the hell?” She’dreallyhad too much champagne. She wanted to ask about the doctorate, but … seriously?
“Go around right now,” Charliese asked. “Take a poll. Answer’s ‘no.’ No matter how tired she is. No matter how much he wants.”
“Not for me, it’s not,” Dyma said.
“Yeah, see,” Charliese said, “they’re physical guys, and in the NFL? His needs come first. And if you say no—that road trip’s coming right up. That’s the thought.”
“What doyouthink?” Dyma asked.
