The Whispers

Blair feels terrible that Chloe might be responsible for what happened to Xavier. Blair cannot bring herself to tell Aiden what Chloe told her: “She needs to keep control of this and make it go away” (242). When Blair brings up her concern that Whitney might be responsible for Xavier’s fall, Aiden says that Whitney would just lie to avoid blame. Nevertheless, Blair is determined to create a new narrative— something other than the truth about Chloe.

Mara sees Blair leave for the hospital and wonders how long it will be before anyone notices Albert is gone. They all think he was a good man, but Mara knows that people are often different from what they seem and that good people do the most terrible things. She remembers being in the basement yesterday and hearing Albert fall in the kitchen. He groaned, but she kept folding laundry until “she was certain it would be too late” (246); only then did she go to him. She whispered in Albert’s ear that she hated him for what he did to their son.

Blair enters the hospital, certain she should trust herself about Aiden and Whitney. She thinks of all the “whispers,” the doubts she typically ignores, though she is confident now. She goes to Xavier’s room, but Whitney wants her to go away. Blair reaches for Whitney, reminding her of their friendship, but Whitney pulls away. Blair is humiliated. She pulls out Aiden’s keychain and asks Whitney why she has it, and Whitney says that she could ask Blair the same question.

Rebecca is despondent, awaiting contractions. Ben isn’t home and hasn’t been in touch. Rebecca sees Mara outside and tells Mara she can go because Ben will be back soon. Mara says that Ben took a taxi to the hospital—she’d overheard him tell the driver—and Rebecca is confused. Mara clarifies that he went to the hospital where Xavier and “his mother” are, and something about Mara’s emphasis on “his mother” sends Rebecca to Ben’s laptop. There, she finds an email from Whitney, inviting Ben him over for a drink “again.” She signed the email “W.”

In the parking lot, Blair realizes she didn’t give Xavier the card and toy. Returning, she intends to leave them on the floor outside his room, but then she sees Ben with Whitney: Ben is stroking Whitney’s neck, down the back of her shirt. Ben sees her and tells Whitney, who doesn’t move. Blair knows they’ll “all have to pretend she was never there” (255). She thinks of the apartment she looked at several months ago; she was considering leaving Aiden and wanted to try on the feeling of it. Now she wonders who she would be without this life and family.

Blair stands inside the empty apartment and thinks about how she would make it her own. She feels lonely, but she believes that the loneliness in this apartment would feel better because it would be her choice. However, it’s only a fantasy, and Blair always returns to reality and “the security of living diminished” (259). She calls her mother, who is distant and has little to say. When she gets home, Aiden asks about the groceries she was supposed to bring, and she lies, saying she forgot her wallet. She knows that just before she goes to sleep tonight, she will wish for the courage to be stronger than her mother, but she also knows it’s futile. Soon, her feelings will subside: “This life will be enough” (261).

Whitney is on the toilet, the party still going outside. Ben walks in on her and apologizes. He waits outside because she seemed upset. He reassures her, but he seems nervous, which she enjoys. Whitney remembers a conversation with Mara in which Mara compared Xavier to another “quiet little boy” she used to know. Whitney wants to take Ben up on his offer to help Xavier with softball, and he says he’d love a cold beer afterward. Whitney agrees, and she thinks about that conversation for the rest of the night.

Ben’s email from Whitney is “too intimate” and “too casual” to ignore. Further, Whitney used the word “again,” as though they’ve had drinks before. Rebecca thinks of how much Mara seems to know. Rebecca goes back outside, and Mara tells her that she feels responsible for Marcus’s death. She tells Rebecca this because she wants Rebecca to understand that no matter how bad things get, Rebecca will find the strength to carry on, perhaps in unexpected ways.

Blair thinks about Whitney and how quickly their “close” friendship has “diminished”: “Missing Whitney will consume her” (268). Blair thinks about how Whitney never explained Aiden’s key, and she realizes the power she has now that she knows about Ben. Jacob is home, so she walks over, preparing to tell him about Whitney and Ben. However, he directs the conversation to the help he and Whitney will need from Blair to “set things straight” when people ask questions about Xavier. He grips her shoulder tightly, and she wonders if he knows about what happened between Xavier and Chloe. Jacob asks how Chloe took the news, emphasizing her name and her friendship with Xavier. Faced with this tacit threat to reveal Chloe’s bullying, Blair’s “bravado” disappears. Nevertheless, she concludes that her information might have “more value” if she holds onto it; she worries about having to protect her own family from rumors. Leaving, she texts the mothers’ group, referencing an “incident with Whitney and her son” (272).