A Quiche Before Dying

thought. We’re worlds apart. “Okay, whatever you say. Noon?“
    “That’s fine. I’ll pick you up.”
    Shelley came to the kitchen door a minute later. “I accidentally went home with your glass. Here. It was VanDyne calling, wasn’t it?“
    “Yes, asking me to lunch. As a suspect, I think.“
    “Jane, the police don’t ask suspects to lunch. God! Your hair. What can we do to it by lunchtime?“
    “Nothing. Shelley, I’ve made a grown-up decision. If Mel VanDyne’s interested in me at all, it’s as an example of a species: Housewifius Domesticus. I might as well look the part. It’s what I am.“
    “That’s pitiful-sounding.“
    “No, it’s the truth. We don’t have a thing in common.“
“He’s a man and you’re a woman. That’s enough.“
    “ He’s a quintessential yuppie and I’m a happy frump with stretch marks.“
    “You know what you need?“
“What?“ Jane asked suspiciously. “A night on the town? My boobs jacked up? A new perm?“
    “A job.”
    Jane sat down at the kitchen table and motioned Shelley to join her. “That’s the last thing I expected you to say. You interest me strangely,“ she said. “Explain.“
    “Well, we’re a dying breed—mothers who are just mothers. Look at this neighborhood. Every year it gets quieter during the day. Everybody’s off doing something that makes them feel like more than just a housewife.“
    “You’re right about all that, but none of it has to do with why I need a job. I need the money.“
    “Jane—is there something I can help with?”
    Jane smiled. “No. Thanks, Shelley, but it’s not that I’m desperate. I can pay for insurance and food and school clothes and all the necessities. I’m really lucky that way. Most single mothers haven’t got it so good. But it’s the extras that really aren’t so extra. My car’s falling to bits; my clothes are all ratty and out of fashion. Even the bath towels are getting shot.
    I priced some new ones last week, and they cost the earth. Mike needs a new tuba; his was about sixth-hand and we got it cheap, meaning to get him a good one if he kept up with his playing.“
    “You’ve got that money your friend left in her will.“
    “Yes, and I’m keeping it for myself like you told me I had to. I wouldn’t dare defy one of your edicts. But I don’t want to just spend it on stuff like towels. I want to use it for something important—I just don’t know what that is yet.“
    “Investing in a business of your own?“
    “Something like that. But what would I do? Mothering’s what I do pretty well, and without a father, my kids deserve a full-time mother. I don’t want to be like my mom.“
    “What’s wrong with being perfect?“ Shelley asked with a grin.
    Jane sighed. “My mother was a perfect wife, not a perfect mother.“
    “I thought they usually went together.“
    “Yes, usually. I could only say this to a real friend.... My mother has always adored my father. They didn’t need my sister and me to make a family. They are a family all by themselves. All the time I was growing up, we did what was best for his career, even though it meant we never stayed anywhere long enough to feel at home. My sister and I never went two years in a row to the same school, or even in the same country. I resented that. And I never realized how much until I was grown.“
    “But that was because of what he did for a living, Jane. Would you have rather your mother stayed behind somewhere with you?“
    “God, no. I just never felt like I came first with her. If I got sick and there was an important embassy party, she’d get a nurse to stay with me, but she’d go to the party because it was important to my father’s career.“
    “Hiring a nurse isn’t exactly neglectful,“ Shelley said softly.
    “Oh, Shelley, I don’t mean I was neglected. I know that in most ways I was very lucky. You can’t tell me anything sensible I haven’t told myself. See, you’re sitting here talking to ‘Jane Jeffry, semi-intelligent adult.’ But the person who’s doing this whining is little Janie Grant, a selfish child who wants, just once, to have her mommy’s full attention. That’s why I feel so strongly that I can’t take on anything that would take my attention away from my kids. I don’t want to be like her.“
    “I understand. I think you could do with a shrink, but I do understand. But what about all those hours of the year that the kids are at school and don’t need your attention or