Excerpt from White Houses by Amy Bloom, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

I was between girlfriends and between dogs. I packed my bag.

Before we got on the train, we stopped in a department store, for her to get some handkerchiefs. Only a few heads turned. I said I could use a new scarf. We walked through together and for a minute we linked arms, like lady shoppers with time on their hands. We got her plain linen hankies and I picked up and put down a red silk scarf. Very racy, she said. You should get it. We sat, side by side, in the department store café, which would have been heaven to me when I was growing up, a clean place to eat, drinks brought to you by tidy-­looking women, surrounded by silk flowers. I ordered a grilled cheese-­and-­bacon sandwich and wished they served beer. Eleanor, who liked to pretend she didn't care for anything self-­indulgent, had a bowl of split pea soup. It came with oyster crackers and after she had dumped her packet of them into the bowl, she looked to see if I might have some, next to my sandwich.

"Why don't you just ask for some more crackers," I said.

"This is fine. This is what they gave us," she said.

I gave the waitress a little wave and a big smile. When she came by, I asked for three more packets of crackers. Eleanor clasped her hands in irritation and then she turned it on.

"The crackers are so good, miss," Eleanor said. "If it is extra, please just put it on our bill."

Excerpted from White Houses by Amy Bloom. Copyright © 2018 by Amy Bloom. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.