“No, afraid not,” Vicki said. For a while, at least, church would have to be off-limits. Oh, in her heart of hearts she did want to attend services tomorrow, but she couldn’t—not until she thought she could enter Grove Corner Presbyterian without being embarrassingly tagged as “that woman whose kid had that tantrum.” Then Vicki reminded herself that she was also “that woman who slapped her kid’s face.” She would only feel guilty about that for the rest of her life. Sure, Laura understood. Well, how about they get together after church, lunch then, at Laura’s? “Fine,” Vicki said, “but we’ll make it my house. The kids can play and we can visit.” Visit? Warren interrupted in a Ralph Kramden inflected bellow, loud enough so that he was sure Laura heard. He had been getting something to drink from the refrigerator and was eavesdropping on her end of the telephone conversation. Didn’t the two of them get in enough visiting at the flower shop, or was business just so pressing that they had no time for chit or chat?
