Chapter 18
Jennifer’s house was silent, the nervous, impatient kind of silence you feel when something unwanted is about to happen. Along with Jennifer, Sarah and James were there, as well as Olivia and her friend Martha, a heavy-set woman with her black hair cut into a flapper’s bob. Martha lingered near the window on the fringe of the scene, silent, listening, watching. Sarah stood with her back to the wall, her arms crossed in front of her, her body a tight standing board, her muscles stiff, her joints heavy. She felt like she needed to shield herself from something, only she didn’t know what. Everyone darted their eyes around the room, looking at each other, away from each other, but no one was speaking. Somehow she knew she wasn’t going to like what they had to say.
“James,” Jennife
