You Are Not Alone(35)

Valerie presses the button for the sixth floor and turns to Jody with a smile. Jody is exactly as she imagined—petite, bubbly, with an air of professionalism that feels slightly affected. Shay described her well to Cassandra and Jane, down to the high ponytail that bounces when Jody walks.

“Oh, Deena, your place is beautiful!” Jody exclaims after Valerie unlocks the door and welcomes her in. “I love the color scheme. And those granite counters! Your kitchen is a dream.”

“Thanks.”

Jody walks over and touches a white vase on the kitchen counter that holds bright peonies. The vase is in the shape of an upside-down hand, with a hollow wrist to hold the flower stems.

“What a fun vase! Do you mind if I ask where you got it? I’m always looking for things to recommend to my clients.”

“Oh, it was a gift.”

“Looove it.” Jody draws out the word, and Valerie responds with a light laugh.

After they chat for a few more moments, Valerie leads Jody to her closet. “As you can see, I need help.”

“Oh, this isn’t bad at all. You should see some of the closets I’ve worked with! Now, the first thing we’re going to do is pull out everything you own and put it on the bed.”

“Even bras and panties?”

“Everything!”

“Nobody else has seen my panties since I got divorced last October.” The divorce part is true; the timing is not. Valerie and her husband split up more than a decade ago.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Thanks, but don’t be.” Valerie injects a confiding tone into her voice as she begins pulling out dresser drawers, heaping T-shirts and socks onto her bed. “I’m happy to be rid of him.”

“Ugh. Well, good riddance. Let’s get rid of some other unwanted stuff now!”

They laugh in unison. The first seed has already been planted.

The two women begin sorting the clothes into three piles as Jody directs: Keep, Donate/Toss, and Repair/Alter. They talk the whole time, with Valerie weaving in tidbits about her life—some real, some fiction—and asking Jody questions, too.

Jody is candid and chatty, telling Valerie how she became an organizer—“It isn’t that easy, you have to get certified and everything”—and she confides that she is about to move in with her boyfriend.

Once a few green Hefty bags have been filled and all that remains are the Keep items, Valerie suggests a glass of wine. Jody demurs without a lot of conviction in her voice.

“Oh, come on, it’s after five. You’re not going to let me drink alone!”

“Maybe just one.”

Valerie brings in two glasses and an uncorked bottle of good Sancerre. She fills the glasses generously, then hands one to Jody. “Cheers! To new beginnings.”

Jody takes a sip. “Ready to move on to accessories?”

“Let’s do it.”

They continue chatting as they sort through Valerie’s shoes, then handbags.

Jody is admiring a metallic clutch when Valerie looks at the bed and frowns. She picks up a beige sweater from the stack. “This should actually be a toss. My ex bought it for me, and I don’t want the reminder of him. I was wearing it when I caught him cheating on me.”

“Oh yeah?” Jody takes another sip of wine. It’s clear she is eager to hear a juicy story.

“Can you believe that jerk slept with our neighbor? She wasn’t even that pretty. They claimed to be just friends.” Valerie uses her fingers to put air quotes around the word friends and shakes her head.

This is a lie, but Valerie is so convincing: Her jawline tightens and her eyes grow momentarily flinty.

“That’s awful!” Jody puts her wineglass on the dresser and begins folding a T-shirt. “You really had no idea?”

“I mean, in retrospect, there were a few signs. They both loved golf, which I hate, so they played together now and then.… What do you think? Can men and women truly be friends?”

“Well…” Jody flattens her palms, aggressively smoothing out another T-shirt against the bed. “My boyfriend is actually living with another woman, and they’re just friends. At least, he’s just her friend. But I think she’s secretly in love with him.”

Valerie nods. “Women always know. So what’s she like? The roommate.”

Jody slides the T-shirts into a dresser drawer and shrugs. She reaches for her wineglass again and takes a healthy sip. “She’s nice. I mean, she doesn’t really have much of a social life, though.…” Jody hesitates.

Valerie smiles encouragingly. “Come on, out with it.”

“The truth is, she’s a little weird.”

“Ooh, like how?”

Jody’s voice drops, even though they’re alone. “She’s got this strange book she carries around. When I first saw it, I thought it was a journal. But once she left it out…”

“I bet you couldn’t resist peeking. I know I wouldn’t be able to.” Valerie tops off Jody’s wine.

“I thought maybe she’d written something about Sean. Or me. But it isn’t like that at all.”

Valerie’s body tenses.

“She just has these crazy statistics written down.”

“Statistics?” Valerie frowns. “Like what?”