With slumped shoulders and a growing headache, Chloe stepped into the house. The late afternoon air felt heavy on her skin, and even the creak of the door as she pushed it open seemed louder than usual. Rob was seated at the patio, the day’s newspaper spread across his lap. He peered up at her over his glasses as she passed.
“Hey, Chloe. You sure you don’t wanna make it to the party before you leave?”
Rob was a nice guy, one of those people you could tell had a quiet gentleness about them. Mary too had her own kind of niceness, but Chloe could not deny the sharp edges that came with Mary’s ambitions. Mary was blinded by her endless desire for Judy to marry well, to climb higher than their circumstances ever allowed. Chloe could not exactly blame her, but still... it wasn’t reason enough
