Wintergirls

Lia returns home from the drugstore with the medicine for Emma and takes a bath. In the bath, Lia continues to view her body as larger than it is, knowing that she doesn’t see herself the way others do. She thinks, “People […] yell at me because I can’t see what they see. Nobody can explain to me why my eyes work different than theirs. Nobody can make it stop” (197). That night, Lia feels Cassie crawl into her bed.

Lia spends the afternoon baking cookies and a date-nut bread for Emma’s elementary school holiday bake sale. When Emma and Jennifer come home, Lia offers to help out at the bake sale, which is happening at the same time as the Winter Holiday Concert, so Jennifer can watch Emma in the concert. At the elementary school, Jennifer kisses Lia’s nose and says, “You can be so sweet sometimes, you know that?” (199).

The other moms at the bake sale offer Lia their treats. They comment that Lia looks so skinny and doesn’t have to worry about putting on weight like them. Lia notices how “They slap their thighs, wiggle their butts, pinch their bellies” (200).