Atmosphere: A Love Story By Taylor Jenkins Reid - 44

The next day, Barbara called at eleven-thirty.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” Frances said, standing in Joan’s kitchen. “I hope you have fun with Daniel. And you both have a nice vacation.”

Joan watched from the stove, standing over a pot of boiling cranberries. How was it that Frances had this much character at ten years old? Or maybe it wasn’t surprising at all. If character was built through bones breaking and healing, Frances had earned some.

“Thanks, I love you, too, Mom,” Frances said as she got off the phone.

So that was how this would work. Barbara would pretend it was normal. There would be no taking it back, no apology. Joan could only hope, for Frances’s sake, that one day Barbara would regret it. That she would, in the future, attempt to fix this, to win Frances’s trust back.

But if not, then Joan would be honored to step in for the rest of Frances’s life. It would not be easy. Already Joan was building contingencies for how every facet of her life would have to go to plan B. But Joan would do it all joyfully, despite the heaviness that loomed in the background. She could already feel the full weight of all the ways, both big and small, that this would forever alter her life.

That afternoon, Vanessa picked Joan and Frances up and the three of them went to Donna and Hank’s for the holiday.

Donna had invited Joan and Vanessa before Joan had left for her mission. And had gotten so excited when Joan called her and asked if Frances could join.

“Yes!” Donna said. “Because I need a babysitter to come over here and hold this fuckin’ baby. I need a break, and Hank is going to be smoking the turkey all afternoon.”

When they got to Donna and Hank’s, they could smell the smoker from the driveway. Donna greeted them with huge hugs. Thea was napping. Donna immediately put Frances to work folding napkins.

Griff was standing at the stove wearing a plaid apron that said, “Who Invited All These Tacky People?” And then over at the table, snapping green beans, was Lydia.

“What is Lydia doing here?” Vanessa whispered.

Donna waved Vanessa off. “Hank says that because she’s part of your mission, I had to invite her. Steve and Helene are stopping by later, too, so it’s the right thing to do. I tried to keep an open mind today. But when she got here, she said our house smelled like mold and we should look into that, so I’ve closed my mind again.”

Joan laughed and went over to Lydia to help snap the beans, while Frances folded napkins right next to her. Lydia barely acknowledged Joan’s presence.

When Hank walked in to grab a beer, he put a hand on Joan’s shoulder to greet her and introduced himself to Frances.

“Nice to have you back Earthside,” he said to Joan.

At which point, Lydia dropped the green beans in her hand.

“Okay, I’m just going to say it,” Lydia said. “I heard you puked the whole time.”

Donna laughed. Vanessa bit her lip. Griff stopped stirring and turned toward Joan.

“I heard that, too,” Griff said with an embarrassed look.

Donna put both hands up. “I’m staying out of it.”

“Joanie, is that true?” Frances asked.

Joan looked around to see that everyone was waiting for her to respond. “Well, if you must know,” she said, finally. “That is correct. I puked straight into the air.”

Frances threw her head back and cackled. All of the adults in the room started laughing with her.

“No, I used barf bags. Many, many, many barf bags,” Joan said, delighted by Frances’s reaction. Frances laughed so hard she went silent and her face turned red. “Let the record show I did not let it stop me! But I am very happy to be home now with you fine people,” she added, putting her arms around Frances’s shoulders and giving her a squeeze.

“Here, here!” Vanessa said, raising her glass.

Later, they all sat around Donna and Hank’s dining table, Frances crammed in between Joan and Vanessa. Griff told everyone he’d met someone and was thinking of introducing her to all of them. Donna made fun of him.

Lydia kept asking people to pass the potatoes, and when people didn’t hear her one too many times, she stood up, walked to the other side of the table, took the casserole dish of mashed potatoes, and walked them back to her seat, where she put them in front of her plate.

“There,” Lydia said. “If anyone wants them, they can ask me.”

“Lydia,” Vanessa said, her tone completely dry. “Can I have the potatoes?”

When Thea woke up, Frances sat in the living room with her and rocked her over and over. Hank went in there and sat with them.

Joan overheard Frances ask Hank what it was like to fly the space shuttle and he said, “Dunno, kid, but I’m excited to find out.”

When Steve and Helene showed up with their kids, everyone cheered. Vanessa gave her seat to Steve; Joan gave hers to Helene. Hank and Griff gave theirs to the kids. And Joan smiled, to watch them.

Once again, there was a table in the center of the room and most of her group stood on the edges, looking on. Joan looked at Griff and smiled. “It’s just like the all-astronauts meetings,” Griff said.

Joan laughed. “You always know what’s in my mind before I do,” she said.

They all shared pecan pie and banana pudding. Vanessa let Frances have both when she thought Joan wasn’t looking. Joan smiled and shook her head at her. Vanessa laughed.

Griff taught Frances a magic trick. Hank told the kids knock-knock jokes.

Later, when Joan and Lydia were doing the dishes, Lydia thanked Joan for her advice.

“Things are going really well with this team,” she told Joan as she cleared plates. “And I’m not sure that would be the case if it weren’t for you.”

“Well, I’m glad,” Joan said, beginning to load the dishwasher.

“You’re . . .” Lydia said. “You’re my best friend here, Joan.”

Joan looked at her and then touched Lydia’s arm, but Lydia did not look at her.

“You’re loading the plates wrong,” Lydia finally said, taking a plate from Joan’s hand and pushing her out of the way. “Who taught you how to load a dishwasher?”

Joan shook her head and turned to see that Vanessa had caught the whole interaction. Vanessa raised her eyebrows and shrugged. Joan laughed.

When it got to be late, and it was time to go, Joan found Donna in Thea’s room, rocking her to sleep. Donna seemed so content, as if she had everything she’d ever wanted.

Joan did not want to go up to space again. And perhaps that had made room for Frances. But Donna would not need room. Donna would find a way. One day, Donna would come home from space and tell her daughter all about it.

Donna looked up at Joan in the doorway and smiled. Joan waved her good night.

It was the first Thanksgiving Joan had ever had without her parents and Barbara.

But it was the first time she’d ever felt this at home.

Later that night, Vanessa walked Joan and Frances into Joan’s apartment. Frances headed to brush her teeth and get ready for bed. Boarding school had abruptly matured her. Frances now did so many things on her own, insisted on reading books that struck Joan as perhaps a bit too advanced for her age, and had started wearing shorter skirts and dresses, almost never wearing T-shirts. But she still wanted to be tucked in. And for that, Joan was grateful.

“I’ll be in in a second,” she said to Frances as Frances headed to the bathroom.

“Today was a good day,” Vanessa said once Frances was out of earshot.

“Yes, it was,” Joan said, holding Vanessa’s hand. “Though I missed you, even when you were right there in front of me.”

“I missed you, too,” Vanessa said softly.

They looked at each other. Vanessa could not sleep there that night. There could be no more of that for a long time. Soon they would need a plan.

“Good night, Franny!” Vanessa called out.

“Good night!” Frances called from the sink.

When Vanessa walked out the front door, Joan grabbed her hand for a moment.

“I don’t know how this is all going to work now,” Joan said. “With Frances always here.”

“I know. But we will figure it out,” Vanessa said. “People like us have always had to find a way. And so we do.”

And she then kissed Joan on the cheekbone.

Joan closed her eyes and inhaled.

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