The smile on my lips froze for a second. My mother knew me better than anyone. I hadn't said a word yet, and she'd already felt the change in me.
A whole pound of pork ribs, eaten clean in one meal.
There was a time I wouldn't have dared imagine it. In that house, good food like ribs was saved for the men and the elders. I got the side dishes. Only at New Year's did I get to pick up a single rib, always the smallest one.
I thought about it, then spoke up. "Mom, I'm getting a divorce."
Her hands stilled over the dishes, then went back to washing. "You've thought it through?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'm behind you."
I froze. I'd expected to spend a long time talking her around, and instead she took it more calmly than I did.
Seeing my face, she gave a small smile. "I just don't want you swallowing more of this. You've got decades ahead of you. A person can't spend all of them shortchanging herself."
Hearing her say that, my eyes went hot at once. I threw myself into her arms. "Mom, once the divorce is done, move in with me. My place is nicer."
She stroked my back. "All right."
I slept at her place that night, planning to head home the next day and go with Lester to the county clerk's office to file for the divorce.
But when I got home from work the next evening, the sight inside stopped me cold.
My clothes had been dumped on the floor. The bed in the bedroom showed the wrinkle of someone having slept in it, and the new silk bedding set my mother had bought was smeared with lipstick.
I opened the closet. It was hung full of pretty dresses in every color. Laurel's clothes.
She'd moved in without ever asking me.
Then laughter drifted in from the doorway. I walked out and saw Lester and Laurel chatting away, the two of them all smiles, Laurel's arms loaded with shopping bags of clothes.
She'd walked out of her own divorce without a cent, and she had no job. It didn't take much to work out who'd paid for all of that.
The moment he saw me, Lester tensed, then rounded on me, furious. "Ruby, where were you last night? Why didn't you come home to cook?"
"Do you have any idea? Laurel waited all evening for you to come back and make braised pork ribs. She was so hungry her stomach was cramping, and you still weren't home. What were you off doing?"
I hadn't imagined that after a whole night away, his first words wouldn't be to ask what had happened to me, but to demand why I hadn't come home to make braised ribs for his little sweetheart.
I didn't answer him. I pointed at the bedroom. "I never agreed to let her live here. So why is she living here? And why are my clothes thrown on the floor?"
Laurel covered her face, the picture of alarm. "I'm so sorry. When I was tidying up I didn't know where to put your things, and Lester said the floor was fine. I did want to put them away for you, but Lester said not to bother."
Then she shot me a smug little look.
Lester jabbed a finger at me. "They're just some old rags. Pick them up yourself. You're really going to make a scene over something this small?"
"And Laurel staying here isn't up for discussion. Since you're back, go buy some ribs. She wants them."
He truly didn't have me on his mind at all. I couldn't be bothered wasting more breath on him. Calmly, I pulled out the referral letter.
"I've already gotten the divorce paperwork. We're getting divorced."
"And then the both of you can get out of my apartment."
