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imagine her with sex in her life. I couldn’t imagine life growing inside her. But it was true. I had to burn away my own clouds of disbelief.
    Mrs. Stockwell said, “Do you have outside connections for RU 486? I am willing to pay. Cash.”
    There was silence again. Very hard, very rigid silence.
    I said, “I don’t know if you were paying attention, Mrs. Stockwell, but Ericka is already in her second trimester.”
    Ericka chewed her bottom lip; her eyes were puffing up. More water. Dripping. She had no idea what we were talking about.
    Faith said, “I recommend that your daughter receive counseling before going any further.”
    Mrs. Stockwell said, “Good day. I will contact your office in the next day or so for recommendations for late termination. You can at least do that for me, can’t you?”
    With clenched teeth Faith nodded.

4/TYREL
    Mye said, “Damn shame when a married woman leaves you for her husband.”
    “Makes me wonder what this world’s coming to.”
    “Next we’ll have peace in the Middle East.”
    I was at work, with my office door closed, feet up onmy glass-top desk, on the phone, talking to my sister in Atlanta. My office in Culver City faces east, toward Pepperdine University and a cemetery nobody ever noticed. I could almost see the condo I was leasing by the mall, had a view of endless palm trees, gray skyline, bumper-to-bumper traffic heading north into the Sepulveda Pass and south toward LAX. I promised myself that was the last time I’d speak Lisa’s name. Outside of professional dealings—which we won’t have much of, because I’ve already called to switch my portfolio over to another financial planner. Right now she had no integrity in my eyes. Wasn’t worth another noun or a verb.
    I said, “How’s the dynamic duo?”
    “Driving me crazy. I wish I’d had twin girls. Boys are ridiculous. Biting each other, pulling hair, flushing toys down the toilet. As soon as one calms down, the other one starts. And if I try to close my eyes for a moment, one of them screams for no reason. I know they’re doing it on purpose too. Can’t you hear them tearing up the house in the background?”
    “Yep. You need to IV them to some Ritalin.”
    “Arsenic would be better.”
    “True that.”
    “To top it off, they saw Leonard on some stupid comedy show, and now in between playing they’re running around the house telling his jokes—their four-year-old versions anyway. They were laughing and you know they don’t bit mo’ understand what Leonard is talking about. ‘Mommy, Mommy, buy us a joke book so we can tell Uncle Leonard a joke when he call us.’ Last thing I need to hear is a joke.”
    I said, “Twin.”
    “What?”
    “You said
bit mo’
.”
    “Did I?”
    “Yes, you did. With a touch of a twang.”
    “I’ve been in the South too long. I’m turning into one of them. Twin, they are so narrow-minded down here. Talk about countrified with a slave mentality. I expect to see us picking cotton by the middle of next week.And this humidity and these damn mosquitoes. And the white people—don’t get me started. I bow down to
nobody.
I don’t know what I was thinking when I followed Danny down here. I told him I’d give him two years to get his law practice going here. If it’s not working, I’m going back to L.A., with or without him.”
    “You said L.A. isn’t a good place to raise your kids.”
    “I’ll have to move to Westchester or something.”
    “You love that man too much to leave ‘im.”
    “Love has limits.” She laughed. “Hell, I miss the beach, miss it always being good weather, miss the Beverly Center, miss my friends from law school, and I miss you.”
    “Miss you too.”
    “This marriage and kid thing seemed like a good idea at the time. Hell, I want to be trying cases, not changing diapers. I don’t see how Momma did this shit and didn’t go crazy.”
    I knew what Mye was thinking. In the two seconds of silence I knew. We were fraternal, but part