Frida is devastated and impressed. “I notice you saying you’re angry with me. Can you tell me more about that? I’m here. I’m listening.”
“I’m upset. I’m upset because I’m upset.”
Frida asks more open-ended questions, but Harriet won’t answer. Frida raises her fist and squeezes, but Harriet has already forgotten their new game.
“I want beach. No Mommy.”
“Just two more minutes,” Gust says. “Tell Mommy you miss her.”
“No, Mommy not home! I do not want to talk. That is not my plan!”
Frida wants to say she’ll be home soon. Three more months. One, two, three. Numbers that Harriet knows. But three months is another season of waiting.
Harriet suddenly becomes very still.
“Oh no.” Gust stares down at his lap. “Try to hold it. Remember, pee goes in the potty.” He grabs Harriet by the armpits and rushes her back into the house without saying goodbye, leaving Frida with Susanna.
Susanna takes off her sunglasses. “She must be feeling stressed. We haven’t had an accident in weeks. At least she didn’t poop on him. The book said emotion causes the sphincter to open.”
Before Frida can apologize, Susanna asks if Gust can get some of Harriet’s things out of Frida’s storage unit. They finally talk about preschool. She tells Frida about Harriet’s first-day outfit, the backpack and lunch box she ordered, the galoshes and indoor shoes, the name labels, the family photo they’ve sent for Harriet’s classroom wall. They’ll have to take a new picture with all of them once Frida gets home. Harriet will attend the Montessori in Center City. A few days ago, two of her teachers came by for a home visit. They discussed separation anxiety, how Susanna should handle drop-offs, the possibility of an ease-in schedule. They asked if there were any special considerations, things they could do to support Harriet during the transition, things they should know about the family.
“And what did you tell them?” Frida asks.
“We told them everything. We had to.”
* * *
The parents spend the last week of August practicing anger-management drills. Frida and Tucker are paired together Thursday afternoon. He refuses to take the drill seriously. He wants to use this opportunity, when they’re enveloped by shouting and recrimination, to talk about the future. Where’s Frida going to live? Does she have a place to stay?
“I could help you.”
She wants to say yes. “Please. Give me your line. They’re watching us. Don’t go off script.”
“You’re killing me, Frida.”
“I’m not killing you. Don’t even talk like that. Think of your son.”
“Guilt-tripping. Mommy one. Daddy zero.”
“Just start. Yell at me. Let me have it.”
“I’m a person with feelings.”
“Please.”
Tucker reluctantly begins the drill, playing the aggrieved ex-husband. They progress from initial outburst to quiet calm and compassion.
Frida drains all the hostility from her face and voice. Susanna said Harriet shouldn’t feel ashamed. The teachers needed to know that Harriet will have to miss school for appointments with the social worker and child psychologist. Frida knows the teachers will watch out for Harriet the way they would a child who’s been abused or molested. Susanna may tell the other parents, the other moms. The question will come up naturally. Gust’s ex-wife. Harriet’s mother. Where is she?
To Tucker, she says, “I hear you. I want you to know that I value your honesty.”
Ms. Russo passes their table. They look tense and exhausted, a couple with a history.
Frida has tears in her eyes. She tries not to look at Emmanuelle, but the doll notices.
Emmanuelle climbs onto Frida’s lap and throws her arms around Frida’s neck. “Mommy, you okay?”
Ms. Russo places her hands on the back of Frida’s chair. “Would you like to tell me what’s really going on here?”
* * *
Frida’s counselor is searching for an apt metaphor for the state of Frida’s mind, the detritus within. The instructors have reported her as distracted. She hasn’t been properly calibrating her emotions. Why isn’t she striving for purity of mind and spirit? This friendship with a bad father can only harm her.
On Sunday night, the school will host an end-of-summer dance to keep spirits up as everyone heads into the final months of lessons. Since Margaret’s suicide, the mothers have been required to attend extra counseling. At meals, the women in pink lab coats have been pulling mothers aside and conducting impromptu mood checks.