Isabel a went home, turned on the air conditioner, and lay down on the bed. Maybe, she thought, things just seemed worse because of the heat. It always made people agitated when it got this hot—the air seemed to stick in the middle of the buildings and that made it hard to breathe. There was no such thing as a breeze in New York, and the whole city started to smel like garbage. That’s al it was, she decided. The weather. She tried to stay completely stil . The air conditioner whirred in the window. Soon the sweat started to evaporate and she started to feel better. Harrison was away on a business trip for a few days. Isabel a decided that she would order Thai food for dinner and stay in. She might feel better for now, but it was safer to stay in the apartment. No sense in going out.

Isabel a’s left side hurt. It started in her shoulder, then moved up to her jaw and down to her leg. She complained for a month, until Harrison told her she had to go to the doctor. “I mean, it’s probably an advanced tumor,” she said to Harrison. “What can they do for that?”

“I promise, it’s not a tumor,” Harrison told her. She knew he had no authority to make such a promise.

“Fine,” she said. “I’l go to a chiropractor.”

“You have a mean case of TMJ,” the chiropractor told her. “You’re carrying a lot of stress on this side. Your alignment is al off.”

“So what can I do?” Isabel a asked.

“I’l show you some stretching exercises. And you should get a mouth guard to stop clenching your jaw at night. You can come back and see me.

But what you real y need to do is lower your stress level.”

“Oh,” Isabel a said. “That’s al ? Thanks.”

“You should take yoga,” Mary told her. “It wil relax you.”

Isabel a went to hot yoga, which turned out to be a horrible mistake. The room was a hundred degrees, and Isabel a could barely breathe. “You may feel nauseous or faint during class,” the instructor told everyone. “This is normal. This is a normal reaction. Just work through it.”

“This is not normal,” Isabel a thought. During tree pose, her legs were so sweaty that she slipped and fel .

“Don’t go to that yoga class,” Lauren told her. “Oh my God, that’s, like, the worst one. Go to hatha.”

Isabel a’s new yoga class was better. It was a normal temperature, and kind of reminded her of church with al of the chanting and bowing and putting hands in prayer position. At the end of the class the teacher sprinkled them with lavender water as they lay stil , which was nice. But her yoga mat smel ed like feet, which got in the way of her transcendence.

“Maybe we should move out of New York,” Isabel a said to Harrison. “Things aren’t going wel here.”

“It’s not like other cities are in great shape,” Harrison said. “Plus, we both stil have our jobs.”

“For now,” Isabel a said.

“For now,” he said.

“I pushed someone on the subway,” Isabel a admitted. “They were going too slow, and I just pushed a little bit.”

Harrison laughed. “So you think you need to leave New York?”

“Yeah,” Isabel a said. “I always said when I push someone, it’s time to go.”

“Wel , that’s something to think about.”

Isabel a went out for drinks with Lauren and Mary. Al they wanted to do was talk about Beth White.

“The house is a piece of shit,” Lauren told them. “They didn’t take care of it, and in this market? They aren’t going to get anything for it.”

“Spoken like a wonderful real estate agent,” Mary said.

“I told them not to sel ,” Lauren said. “Beth wouldn’t hear of it. She said she wants it gone.”

“Jesus,” Isabel a said. “What happened, exactly? Does anyone know?”

Lauren shrugged. “She said it was mutual.”

“That sucks,” Mary said.

“I was wondering why they weren’t having kids, though, you know?” Lauren said. “I knew something was up.”

“She told me that she’s getting custody of the dog,” Mary said.

“That’s the saddest sentence I’ve ever heard,” Isabel a said. When she got home that night, she looked at Winston and said, “You would go with me, right? You love me more.” The dog yawned, and looked away.

“What’s happening?” Isabel a asked Cate. She’d gotten stuck on a subway with no air-conditioning and was twenty minutes late to work. When she walked onto her floor, the conference room was ful of people and some of them were crying.

“They closed the whole YA division. They just told everyone today.”

“So al those people are just fired?”

“Yeah,” Cate said. “Crazy, right?”

“How can they just close a whole division?” Isabel a asked. Her dress was stuck to her legs, and she tried to pul the material away without being

obvious.

“The company is in some serious trouble,” Cate whispered. “I say, we’re lucky if we’re stil here in a couple of months.”

“There’s nothing you can do about it,” Harrison told her. “Just make sure your résumé is updated, and do your job. That’s al .”

Isabel a felt sick to her stomach, and heard the yoga instructor in her head saying, “You may feel nauseous. This is a normal reaction.”

“But that’s al that I’ve worked for,” Isabel a said. “If I leave now, with the title I have, I won’t be able to get a job anywhere.”

“You stil have your job for now,” Harrison said. “You’re very resourceful.”

“You’re very resourceful? What kind of a thing is that to say to someone?”

Harrison told her to calm down, and she started screaming. “I hate when people tel me to calm down! You calm down. Don’t you cal me resourceful, and then tel me to calm down.”

Isabel a packed a bag and left the apartment. “I’l be back tomorrow,” she said. Harrison stood in the door and looked confused.

Isabel a went over to Mary and Ken’s apartment. Ken took one look at her and carried Henry into the other room.

“I think you’re just stressed from work,” Mary told her.

“Maybe,” Isabel a said. “But I don’t think that’s it.”

“It doesn’t sound like Harrison was real y out of line, though,” Mary said.

“No,” Isabel a said. “I’m out of line.” She thought about her left side, al gnarled and crooked. Then she sent Harrison a text message that said,

“I’m sorry. I’m crazy.” He wrote back, “That’s okay.”

Isabel a and Mary drank a lot of wine, and Isabel a ended up sleeping on the couch. She woke up to Henry dancing in front of her while he watched Sesame Street. “Hi!” he said to her. Isabel a saw how ful his diaper was before she smel ed it. She sat up and smiled at him. “Hi,” she said back, and this pleased him so much that he smiled and squatted.

“I think Henry needs a new diaper,” she cal ed to Mary. Then she stood up and ran to the bathroom to vomit. She heard Henry banging on the door. “Ummmbl l !” he screamed. Isabel a knew he was saying, “Let me in! What are you doing?”