Eliza Starts a Rumor(2)
Eliza closed her eyes and pictured the familiar blue-and-white box, with the clear window on top, visualized herself opening the side tabs and scoffing down one, or two, or four. She imagined her first bite—the distinct segue from the hard chocolate shell to the soft, vanilla cakey inside, channeling her mind and spirit into the exquisite sense of anticipation.
“Focus. Focus on the donut, Eliza.”
Before she knew it, she was out of the car and standing in aisle four, three donuts in. They had the desired effect, and she took a few deep breaths to seal the deal. She pulled the socks out from under her armpits, threw them in her purse, and yanked out her shopping list. She was good to go.
Half an hour later, with her cart overflowing, Eliza stepped in line at the checkout counter. There she was instantly distracted from her fear of exiting the store by a lively conversation between two young mothers ahead of her. One, who had a baby strapped to her chest, was helping the other, who had an unruly toddler strapped in the seat of the cart, unload her groceries. As the toddler’s mother placed one item on the belt, the toddler took another off and threw it back into the cart. It was entertaining, and Eliza was in no rush to go back outside.
The mother of the baby said, “I was up all night reading that epic thread on the local chat group. Did you see it?”
“Of course I saw it. It was like a train wreck.”
“I just don’t understand how these women spill everything. I mean, ‘My husband has erectile dysfunction, please help’?”
“At least she wrote that anonymously. All those women who answered with their expert advice, you can only imagine that their husbands have issues in that department as well. I mean, my God, my husband would kill me.”
They both laughed. Eliza did not. She found their conversation very alarming. Eliza reviewed and approved every post that went on the Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board, and the one that these two were discussing was unfamiliar to her. She redirected her anxiety and butt right into the women’s conversation.
“Not to be nosy, but I couldn’t help but overhear. Are you referring to the Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board?”
“Oh, no. That dinosaur bores me to tears,” the woman with the toddler answered. The insult registered on Eliza’s face and the other woman seemed to notice and proceeded to sugarcoat her response. To Eliza it felt more like arsenic.
“That one is more for your generation. There’s a new site called Valley Girls that’s more relevant, you know, for us.” Her high ponytail did a pirouette as she motioned to her just-off-to-the-gym outfit.
Eliza looked down at herself. She was wearing the shirt she had slept in and sweatpants. She couldn’t remember the last time she had on leggings, let alone jeans. She vowed to shower and blow her hair out before the kids arrived home. And to put on an actual outfit.
“Valley Girls?” she asked. “When did that one start?”
“A few months ago. More dirty laundry, less how best to wash it.”
Eliza pulled back her cart and slid it toward an empty register. All thoughts of her recent panic were temporarily banished by new fears. Was the bulletin board becoming irrelevant? Would it wither and die? She couldn’t let that happen—especially not right now. Checking those posts and watching the attention they received had become her biggest connection to the outside world and, as pathetic as it felt to admit it, her only emotional high, save a phone call from her kids.
Suddenly, she couldn’t get home fast enough, and for once, not just because of her agoraphobia. She had no idea how she would do it, but she would not allow these sleek millennial mommas to make her site obsolete.
CHAPTER 2
Olivia York
The anniversary gift was due to be delivered by ten, and Spencer, Olivia’s husband, had promised to be home from his run in time for its arrival. He often miscalculated the length of his runs, adding on miles and subsequently time. It was doubtful that he would be at her side for the big reveal. Standing alone with the deliverymen was not how Olivia had pictured this moment.
On hearing the sound of wheels on gravel, she texted Spencer, They’re here. If he were home, where he should have been, that text would have included at least three exclamation points. Her lack of punctuation matched her mood. Olivia was disappointed. All of the romance she’d felt when first hearing of his imminent surprise was replaced with annoyance. The doorbell rang. She brushed off the gloom and answered it with a genuine smile.
“Right this way,” she directed the two men, with a mixture of nervousness and excitement, as they carried a large crate through the front door. It had been just six weeks since Olivia and Spencer had moved to Hudson Valley with their beautiful baby, Lily, but it already felt like home. She loved everything about the house right down to the lovely name of the street, Evergreen Lane, where she had resolved to bring up her family. Actually, “resolved to” made it seem as if Olivia was not fully embracing this move. That was not the case. Though it had not been her idea, Olivia York took on this transition in her true, hopeful fashion, as she did most everything that came her way.
A born and bred city girl, she had no idea how to live in the country. Even calling it the country as opposed to a suburb of Manhattan was apparently incorrect and made her husband laugh every time she said it.
It had been Spencer’s plan all along to move out of Manhattan: grass for the kids to play on, fresh air, the promise of a golden retriever or a standard poodle or some combination of the two. It was the way he’d grown up, and the offices for York Cosmetics, his family’s multilevel-marketing company, were based nearby. Olivia knew that even a reverse commute couldn’t beat the hop, skip, and jump it would now take for Spencer to get to work. As a freelance graphic artist, Olivia could work from anywhere. She felt selfish insisting they stay in the city forever, though it had always been her preference.