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Cat blinked at her. “Wait till you’re a mother. You’ll see. Come on. We need wine.”
In the kitchen, Cat turned off the stove, where she’d been cooking dinner, and pulled out the bottle of wine Megan knew would be ready and waiting. She shooed Megan into the family room where they could both sit on the squashed couch, sharing a blanket, drinking their wine, and rubbing bare feet on the back of Bofur, who’d happily greeted Megan as though this were just another Sunday.
“Luckily, Antonio’s picking up the boys from practice tonight,” Cat said. “We have the house to ourselves. So you want to tell me about it?”
“Some of it. But do you think the others would come over? I’d rather tell you all at once.”
Cat immediately sent a message to the group chat:Megan is home. Get over here now.Sam sent a question mark, and Cat conceded that from New Mexico it would be hard toget over here now. So Sam dialed in on video chat.
“Imma fucking kill him,” she said as soon as they answered.
“Get in line,” Cat and Megan both said.
“Christ, and Kane’s really going to kill him,” Cat said. “Remember how he was with Liam?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Megan said, causing Sam to choke with laughter. “I mean, he doesn’t need killing. He was just… protecting himself. And I…”
Nope. Couldn’t talk about it. She shook her head, and Sam tsked.
Thea arrived first, as she lived closest, school was out, and she could bring Benji, her younger son. After he’d greeted his auntie with all the lack of enthusiasm of an eight-year-old, Cat sent him upstairs to play in the guest bedroom that used to be Sam’s. Ten minutes later, Kane arrived.
Cat’s hugs were tight. Kane’s were rib-crushing. “I’m going to kill him,” he said when he finally let go.
“Get in line,” everyone answered.
Megan smiled at them all while rubbing her rib cage. “Thanks. Thanks for coming so quickly, too.”
“Of course we would,” Thea said. “We’re so glad you’re back. We hated you and Cat being mad at each other.”
Megan glanced at Cat. They still had things to talk about. But right now, she had something more important to say.
“Sundays have been really weird without you,” Cat agreed.
“Only because you didn’t have your servant to do your bidding,” Sam said.
They all looked at Cat’s phone, propped up on the coffee table. “Ouch,” Cat said.
“That’s not what it was,” Megan said. “It was more than… Okay, wait.” She pressed her fingers into her eye sockets for a second. “I’m starting in the wrong place. Listen.”
She took her hands away and looked at them all: Kane, sitting in a huge armchair that he managed to make look normal-sized, dressed in a suit as he’d probably come straight from work; Thea, in sensible pants and a sweater, taking the third seat on the couch next to Megan; Sam, russet hair and tan skin singling her out among them as someone who lived her life outdoors as much as possible; and Cat, older, harder, her hair always in a topknot because she was too busy to do anything with it.
Megan’s siblings. God, how she loved them. But six weeks away had given her clarity: they couldn’t keep on going as they had been.
Would they listen to her? The youngest, the caboose? The surprise?
But the alternative to speaking was to say nothing. To go back. And Megan couldn’t do that. She had somewhere to go now and a career to build that would fulfill her.
Nowhere to go but forward. “Kane,” she said. “Hire Cat.” Cat gave a very catlike squeak next to her. “You know you’re the one who should be running Fielding Paper with him,” Megan said to her. “You two fight about it every weekend. You could run it with your eyes closed. And you’re bored as hell being a stay-at-home mom.”
Cat’s mouth dropped open, as did Kane’s. “I amnotbored!” she protested. “I’m raising my kids.”
“I know.” Megan put a hand on her knee. “And you’ve been raising all of us at the same time. I can tell it’s driving you crazy. The boys are going to start college in the fall. You’ll have the time to work. To do more with your skills.”
“God,” Kane said. “Cat, it’s been right in front of my face. I didn’t think you wanted to.”
“I didn’t—I don’t—”
“You’re an amazing mom,” Megan said. “I should know.” Cat turned watery eyes to her, and she smiled at her. “You can be that and be an amazing executive. You were born to it.”
