Page 60 of Breaking from Frame
It’s been a long time since she was in school, but something in his voice makes her feel like she’s in a cramped desk sweating her way through an algebra test. “So long as I can still see Jackie, I’d rather a little gossip than Dorothy calling the police on you just for sitting in your car.”
“Why?”
Claire considers that, for a moment. She can’t say she isn’t a little bit worried about the potential drama this could cause, but in the end the answer is simple. “Jackie loves you. I’d rather try to be like her than like Dorothy. Even if I don’t always succeed.”
For a minute, Theo just stares at her. The clock ticks. The refrigerator hums. Claire drums her fingers on her forearms as his eyes drill into her.
“You’re an odd duck,” Theo finally says.
It doesn’t sound derogatory in the same way it did when he called her Suzy Homemaker. If this really has been some kind of test, Claire can only hope she’s passed some threshold in his estimation.
“So I’m told,” Claire says. She goes back to the stove, pouring the slightly cooled water into two mugs and pushing one towards Theo. “Will you sit down with me?”
Theo seems to consider his options. He looks from Claire to the door, and then from the door to the tea.
“You’re not as much of a freak as Jacks. But it’s a start,” Theo says slowly. He sits down, making himself more comfortable and pulling his tea towards himself.
Claire exhales in one big rush. It’s obvious that this doesn’t mean she and Theo are fast friends, but it must mean something that he’s still giving her the time of day. “Thank you. And that’s maybe the first time someone has told me I’m not strangeenough.”
“Trust me, hon. You’re barely on the scale,” Theo says. “Unlike Jackie, who should have been here an hour ago.”
“Is she often late?”
“She was late to her own birth,” Theo drawls. “She was supposed to meet me at eleven, after an early shoot. Apparently, there’s some record store in Sacramento the likes of which I couldn’t possibly find in San Fran.”
“That sounds like a nice time,” Claire says mildly.
She’s not sure how to continue the conversation, but Theo does it for her—he stands up, pointing out the kitchen window where Jackie’s car is rolling into the drive. “Look, Jacks is home. Come on.”
He abandons his undrunk tea, and Claire blinks in his wake. It sounds like an invitation, but it comes so suddenly that she can’t keep up. “You want me to come with you?”
Theo raises his eyebrows, as if she was invited all along and this shouldn’t be a surprise at all. “What else do you have to fill the time? Waxing the linoleum?”
It turns out to be a wonderful outing, even if Theo only invited her out of some kind of curiosity. Jackie is in a good mood after her photoshoot, and apologizes to Theo for several minutes about her lateness while they drive to the record store. Theo pokes fun at Claire’s music taste, seeming to test her boundaries, but it feels more in jest than genuinely mean. He’s strange and often impolite, but he’s also clever. He makes Jackie laugh. Above all, he clearly cares about Jackie’s happiness as much as Claire does. When they first met Claire never thought she’d come to enjoy his company so much, but she finds that after that strange afternoon she’s always quite happy when she sees his car in Jackie’s driveway.
If Pete knew she was associating with someone like Theo, he might be as angry aboutthatas about the Jackie of it all. And Pete will never understand the pull Claire feels towards Jackie Callas.
Even Claire doesn’t fully understand it. All of it, every hour spent listening to Joni Mitchell or shopping with Theo or watching raptly as Jackie licks an ice cream cone, Claire hides from her husband. She’s always home with dinner on the table before he’s any the wiser. These days, she has it down to an art.
And she’ll keep at it for as long as it takes.
Chapter 16
Near the end of August, Martha goes into labor.
Claire has been prepared for this eventuality. She agreed when Martha first got pregnant to check in on the house for the few days Martha will be at the hospital, and she has every intention of upholding her promise even with the strangeness between them lately.
Even so, Claire finds herself taking advantage of Martha’s absence. While she’s at the hospital welcoming her little bundle of joy, Claire sees Jackie every single day.
Keeping their friendship from Pete is now imperative. Jackie is too important to lose. Maybe Jackie is a bad influence—she encourages Claire to speak her mind, after all. She gives Claire a taste of freedom during her stagnant days. Jackie bought her the first outfit she’s ever felt truly comfortable in, just because she could. That fact—the fact that Jackie bought it for her, the fact that Claire feels comfortable wearing it even if she’s terrified of being seen in it—is what drives Claire to put the outfit on and go over to Jackie’s house in broad daylight.
Sure, she runs there as fast as her legs can take her, but the delight on Jackie’s face when she opens the door makes it worth it.
“Claire!” Jackie says, quickly moving aside to let Claire in. Her eyes widen as Claire passes, fully taking in Claire’s clothes. “Goodness, you—you lookfantastic.”
Claire gets a unique thrill every time Jackie pays her a compliment, but this one feels different. Jackie isn’t her cool, collected self—she trails behind Claire on the way to the kitchen, her eyes wide, and Claire feels exposed by the clothes. Like without the protective shell of a skirt, Jackie will somehow seewhatever strange force has been twisting at the apex of her thighs lately.
It brings to mind that moment with the laundry basket. Something twinges behind her zipper, and Claire clasps her hands over her lap when she sits in the breakfast nook.
