“So what if he isn’t? It’s your head, right? And I think it’s wonderful. Would you like coffee?”
“I suppose it’s too early for wine,” Justine said. “How are you getting along since the funeral? Are things beginning to fall into place?”
“I suppose,” Adele lied. “Not nearly as quickly or neatly as I hoped. All those things I’d been looking forward to, like having the time and energy to lose some weight and get in shape, or maybe at least look at a university program catalog, go back to my studies... Day after day goes by and I haven’t done anything. I suppose I’m a little depressed.”
“There’s a lot of that going around,” Justine said dourly. “Listen, I have to tell you some things. It’s difficult.”
Adele didn’t like the sound of that, yet she couldn’t imagine what might be coming. Justine lived a charmed life. “Where do you want to sit to have this difficult conversation?” she asked.
Before she even finished the sentence, Justine had taken herself to the living room and sat on the edge of a wingback chair. That sight alone, her tall, lithe and lovely sister perched, stiff and tense, in the old chair, emphasized to Adele that she hadn’t even started her redecorating-remodeling project. Justine’s house, though she was terribly busy, was breathtakingly decorated and picture-perfect. This old house was not only dated, it was threadbare. And her usually poised sister was very uptight.
“Let me cut right to it. Something has happened,” Justine said. “There have been some changes in the company. My company. Serious downsizing and outsourcing. My job hasn’t been eliminated yet, but there’s no question there’s going to be a major change. One that will involve an income adjustment.”
“Oh no! Why is this happening?” Adele asked.
“A lot of complicated reasons that all boil down to profits and losses. We’ve merged with other software manufacturers twice, laid off employees and tacked a not very subtle For Sale sign on the door. They’re paring down corporate officers to combine them since the latest merger. When two companies become one, there’s no point in two VPs of Operation, two presidents, two general counsels. I’ve already been asked if I’m interested in taking over Human Resources since I have experience in dealing with many of their legal issues. I’m thinking about it, but it comes at a significant pay cut. It has forced me to think about other things.”
Could one of them be asking your husband to get a real job? Adele thought. She kept her mouth shut about that. Instead, she asked, “Like what?” Wondering what any of this had to do with her.
“I’m planning to see a headhunter, look for another firm that’s in need of general counsel. Since I’m experienced in corporate law, I could join a law firm but I’d be on the bottom rung. Or...I’ve even given some thought to private practice. My experience in Human Resources lends to a number of specialties. I have an open mind. I might be qualified to work for the state. Whatever, I have to be thinking now. I have a feeling, a strong feeling, my income is going to be severely impacted. Soon.” And she wondered how Justine’s husband was handling this news.
Justine started dating Scott in college, right around the time Addie was born. He was undeniably smart, though not a great student and not really motivated, except maybe on the golf course. Based on what little information Justine had shared over the years, Scott had never leaned toward ambition, but he was a steady, good man and devoted father. He got his degree in business, started out in sales for a big sporting goods manufacturer. He did pretty well, and while he was doing that, Justine took the LSAT and killed it. She went to law school—Stanford. Scott was very supportive of the idea. Just make me a stay-at-home dad with a set of clubs, he had said.
Since Scott traveled all the time in his first job, they settled in San Jose in a small town house. It was convenient for him as a base of operations and close enough to Stanford for Justine to commute. That was such a long time ago. Adele remembered that town house. She’d been there quite a few times as a little girl.
She remembered Justine had said Scott was excited that his wife was going to be a successful lawyer. “That’s all we want,” he had said. “She’ll knock ’em dead in the legal world, and I’ll take care of all the domestic details.”
That transition had been gradual, but eventually it led them to where they were now—Justine, a self-made woman with a high-paying corporate job and Scott, a stay-at-home dad and husband who worked part-time in a sporting goods outlet. He had been a volunteer EMT, played a lot of sports, loved hiking, kayaking, scuba diving, boating.