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“Co you home ”

“You?”

“Yeah,” Nina said firmly “Me ”

“That bitch How could she say those things to me? And especially in front of Mom?” Meredith was in the small, cramped office from which her husband oversaw the newspaper’s city beat Not that there was much city, or much beat, either A stack of paper by his co hard on his novel The one she hadn’t yet found time to read

She continued pacing, chewing her thumbnail until it hurt

“You should have told her the truth I told you that ”

“This is not the time for I-told-you-so’s ”

“But you talked to her, what? Two or three times since you put your mom in Parkview? Of course Nina’s pissed You would be, too ” He leaned back in his chair “Let Nina spend tiht, she’ll understand why youpile of crazy and Nina will fall all over herself to apologize ”

Meredith stopped pacing “You think?”

“I know You didn’t stick your h it was You put her there to keep her safe Remember?”

“Yeah,” she said, wishing she felt stronger about it “But she’s been better in the nursing ho in the snow barefooted or peeling off wallpaper or cutting her fingers She saved the good stuff for me ”

“Maybe she’s ready to come home, then,” he said, but she could tell that he wasn’t really engaged in the conversation any on his mind, or he’d heard it too many times Probably the latter; she’d spent a lot of ti about her mother, and Jeff had heard it all Actually, it was the only thing she could re to him about lately

“I’ve got to run,” he said “Interview in twenty minutes ”

“Oh Okay ”

She let hiy, crowded office and to her car She cliine