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“This is Lauren you’re talking about.”
    “No.” Sheila raised her hand. Her fingers were shaking. “This is my son’s future we’re talking about.” She sat back a few inches and the lines in her forehead eased. “Be sensible, Angela. The last thing these kids need is more time together. We’re both moving the first week of June. Shane’s coming with us. That’s final.” Her hesitation was cool, indifferent.
    Angela felt like she’d been kicked in the gut. How had Angela been so wrong about the woman, trusting her all these years? “We’ve been friends for a long time, Sheila.”
    “And my son’s future will go on far longer.” Sheila’s tone lightened some. “I’m sorry, Angela. This isn’t your fault, it’s just — ” she narrowed her eyes, intent — “the kids need to be apart.”
    Her words put their friendship on the firing line. Angela was angry at Sheila’s tone and her accusation that Lauren’s pregnancy made Shane a victim and Lauren the villain. But suddenly there was more, and Angela was able to look ahead.
    In that moment she could stare hard down the road and see what her daughter’s life would be like with Sheila Galanter as a mother-in-law.
    It would be a life doomed to guilt and shame and never being good enough. The past would forever be brought out and examined, commented on with a series of tongue clucks and disdainful looks in Lauren’s direction. The idea made Angela’s heart hurt. She would never wish that for her daughter. How dare Sheila take that attitude about Lauren, as if Shane were the only one affected by what had happened?
    “Okay.” Angela straightened in the chair and leveled her gaze at Sheila. “I agree.”
    Sheila sat all the way back, the fight suddenly gone. “You do?”
    “Yes. Completely.”
    Sheila’s voice was almost a whisper. “What about the baby?”
    Angela knew the answer as well as she knew her own name. Lauren was going to keep the child. She and Bill would do whatever they could to help Lauren be successful as a single mom. For however long Lauren needed them.
    She cleared her throat. “We’ll talk to Lauren again. I think you’re right. We can convince her about this. Especially if Shane’s gone from her life.”
    Of course, it was a lie. Lauren wouldn’t give up her baby. But saying the false words came easily now that she too was ready to cut ties with the Galanters. Angela didn’t blink. “That’ll be best for everyone.”
    Relief flooded Sheila’s features. “Yes. I’d hate to have a grandchild on the other side of the country and not know about it.”
    Angela wanted to stand up and shout at the woman. You already have a grandchild growing inside my daughter! You’re so blind and vain and empty you’d do anything to protect your son’s reputation. Even this. Instead she stood and motioned to the door. “She’ll give the baby up. Don’t worry about it.” She crossed her arms and took a step toward the backyard. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do. As you said, there’s no point pretending about our friendship.”
    Sheila looked almost as if she might apologize for making such a statement, but the look passed. She stood, collected her purse and car keys, and headed for the entryway. When Angela heard the door shut it was like gunfire, and something deep inside her heart took its last breath, shuddered, and died. Angela knew exactly what it was.
    Her friendship with Sheila Galanter.

T WO
    S omething was wrong with their parents.
    Lauren was sitting in Shane’s Camry, just outside her parents’ house, and she could feel it. Almost like a force, something bigger than the two of them or their families or anything they’d ever come up against. A steady snow had been falling on the windshield for half an hour and now they couldn’t see out. It was a picture of their lives, really. Living life on the inside, with no way to see out, no way for anyone else to see in.
    Shane gripped the steering wheel