Do Not Disturb

Maybe we used up all our happiness. Maybe everybody only gets so much.

You don’t even realize you have everything until your whole life falls apart.

But he seems nice. Harmless. Like he wouldn’t hurt a fly.

I love mirrors,” Greta tells me. “Mirrors are the barrier between the conscious and unconscious mind. Everyone has an inner concept of themselves, but mirrors are reality. What you see right now—that is the truth that everyone else sees.

I’m not dead. Did you think I was? That I’m some corpse my husband propped up in front of the second-floor window to frighten his guests? I’m not. I’m very much alive. And I’m afraid my husband is a murderer.

when I was a kid, we used to have a real phone. A landline. And when you were mad at someone, you could slam it down. It’s just not the same with a cell phone.

If you know your fortune, are you able to stop it? Or do you just have to try to look surprised when it happens?

Or more likely, Derek’s mother comes by for absolutely no reason at all except to count all the ways I’m an unsatisfactory wife. (To be fair, this time she would be absolutely right.)

If you are going on a trip, it is important to pack socks.

That is your choice. But even if you do not know your fortune, that does not keep it from coming true.” “If you know your fortune, are you able to stop it? Or do you just have to try to look surprised when it happens?

Then I have to decide if I’ll forgive him. I probably will. It gets easier each time, and I have to admit, I don’t know what I would do without him.

I hang up the phone and drop it down onto the center of the bed. Back when I was a kid, we used to have a real phone. A landline. And when you were mad at someone, you could slam it down. It’s just not the same with a cell phone.

It was wrong that she murdered that woman. She should never have done it. But I can’t say I’m sorry. And at that moment, I decide. If we have a girl, we will name her Greta.

But she wanted me to know. She wanted me to know that everything I have is because of her. She’s right—Nick very well might have left me for Christina. If she hadn’t done what she did, I wouldn’t have him anymore. I wouldn’t be on my way to the hospital, about to have my first child. I might not even be alive.

I was trying to get rid of the other one for you too,” she says. “Quinn. When she was downstairs, I looked through her bag, found out her real name. Then I said all the scary stuff about how she was in horrible danger. Left a few threatening messages for her in the Bible in the drawer. Got her on the run. Of course, it turned out she was in horrible danger.

But I never dreamed Greta could have done it either. “I’ve done it before.” She says it casually, like she’s talking about going roller skating instead of committing a murder. “There was a woman at the carnival who wanted my Bernie. And then she just… disappeared. That’s what the police decided anyway.

So you see,” she says, “I had to do what I did.” I pull my hand away from hers. “What did you do?” “I saved your marriage!

I will tell you a secret, Rosalie.” Her fingers linger on mine. “I cannot really read the future. Or the past. I am just an ordinary woman.” “Really.” There’s a note of sarcasm in my voice, but I’m a little surprised by her admission. Not that I ever believed in that stuff, but sometimes Greta did seem truly clairvoyant. After all, she predicted a happy ending for me and Nick when it seemed impossible.

Derek would never have let me be friends with a man, but now I was free to do what I wanted.

And now he was dead. Just like my parents. “Who did this to you?” I whispered. Unsurprisingly, he did not answer.

I think I chose the wrong sister,” he told me last week. I whispered back, “It isn’t too late, you know.” “If I left Quinn, would you leave Rob?” I answered without hesitation: “I would.

He’s still the same guy who tripped over his own feet while running track in high school because he couldn’t stop staring at me. The same guy who bought me a restaurant so that I could have my dream. We’ve been together for eighteen years, and all but the last five were so happy. Maybe we used up all our happiness. Maybe everybody only gets so much.

Plus, my parents don’t like Nick. My mother is never clear about why, but she always hints that I could do better, and she doesn’t think much of our restaurant either.

I fell in love with him for being the only one to believe in me.

But even if you do not know your fortune, that does not keep it from coming true.” “If you know your fortune, are you able to stop

Derek had been shopping for a new bank, but in retrospect, what he really had been shopping for was a wife.

I love you, Claudia,” I say to the windshield. And then I start to cry.

You’ve made a fool out of me for the last time

Maybe we used up all our happiness.