Knowing that, I wasn’t looking forward to meeting her for brunch at Aquitaine the day after getting back from Arizona. She liked to pretend she enjoyed French food when in reality she enjoyed drinking French champagne before noon, and while I’d managed to tolerate that previously, I wasn’t in the mood for it now.
I knew it was time to sit down and hash it out with her, but it also took me away from Tiel. I left her in my bed with a promise to return soon but wouldn’t be surprised to find her schlepping back to her apartment this morning.
As I waited for Shannon to join me, I started an email to myself noting the work required on the firehouse. I wanted to finally convert the old showers to a practice space for Tiel, and the bathrooms required updating, and we might be in need of a nursery very soon.
I couldn’t begin to summarize how incredible that felt.
“Who is licking your ass this morning?”
I startled at Shannon’s comment, and tucked my phone away as she sat across from me. “Excuse me?”
“You look like a kid on Christmas morning,” she said. “I take it you enjoyed Scottsdale.”
“It was fantastic,” I said, but couldn’t remember anything about the conference.
Turning my attention to the menu, I ignored Shannon’s expectant gaze. She stared at me for a moment, then launched into a detailed account of her week. The Turlans’ public relations people were keeping her busy with update requests and ever-changing press tour schedules, and that was on top of the work she did with the assortment of councils and committees around town.
Every neighborhood had their own advisory board, or so it seemed, and she was the first line of defense for them all. She pushed them to reconsider regulations against otherwise unsightly home sustainability features like solar panels and rain water catchment, and managed them through well-intentioned yet ridiculous remodeling and construction guidelines.
“I swung by on Thursday with some groceries,” she said. “It looked like Riley had been surviving on spicy mustard and beer. I got a few quarts of that soup you like. They’re in the freezer. Oh, and I sent my cleaning lady to your place, just so you didn’t worry about that when you got home.”
“You didn’t have to do any of that,” I said, careful to keep my tone even.
“I wanted to,” she said, shrugging as she destroyed a plate of brioche French toast. “No big deal. So listen. Andy is leading a walk-through at Wellesley soon. She wants to discuss the progress and get some feedback on issues. I didn’t want that to come as a shock, and you don’t have to go if you’re not feeling up to it.”
“I don’t mind,” I said.
Shannon inclined her head toward me and frowned. “I don’t understand. What is it you don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind going to the walk-through.” I shrugged and picked some minced chives from my eggs. Shannon stood abruptly, and moved beside me to press her hand to my forehead.
“You don’t feel hot,” she murmured. “Did you pick up Valley Fever or something? What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing is going on,” I said. “I’m just not going to get hung up on the house, or any of it. I don’t have time for that shit, and there’s no sense reliving it every day. I’d rather not sit around, holding hands and talking about how great Angus was, but I’ll take a look at the progress.”
She leaned back in her chair, her champagne glass pinched between her fingers, studying me. “All right,” she said eventually. “Let’s do this.”
“Now?” I said. I glanced around the busy restaurant. “Here?”
“Yep,” she said. “We can be civilized.”
“Fine. I’m with Tiel, and she’s not going anywhere,” I said. I stopped short of mentioning that we might be having a baby, and despite every urge to the contrary, I didn’t ask whether she knew where Matt picked up Lauren’s engagement ring. I was fighting this battle one hill at a time. “It would be nice if you’d respect that.”
“I don’tdisrespect that, Sam—”
“You certainly aren’t supportive,” I said.
She rubbed her forehead and murmured something to herself. “Honestly, I just want what’s best for you, and if she’s it, I’m on board and I’ll do anything I can to make her feel included. You look healthy and you seem happy, and that’s fantastic, but I have no idea what’s going on with you. I had to hear about this girl fromAndy.Do you even understand how much that hurt me?”
I pushed my plate to the side. “And you, Shannon, you vanish for random weekends and can’t manage to tell me where the fuck you’ve been?” I shook my head and gazed out the window. “You can hide your shit from a lot of people, but you can’t hide it from me.”
We stared at each other, waiting for the other to speak first. The waiter circled back to our table three times during this impasse, and Shannon finally snapped at him to take her plate and bring another mimosa.
“All right. Fine,” she said. “I started something over the summer. It was . . .” She turned her eyes to the ceiling, pausing as she selected her words. “To put it mildly, a very bad idea, but there were some extenuating circumstances.”
I accepted another glass of juice from the waiter, wiped the rim with my napkin, and sipped. “It’s fascinating how you’re very obviously talking about sex, and you’ve never before felt the need to censor yourself with me.”
“Yes, well, shit happens,” she murmured. “Anyway. It ended, and that was for the best, and that’s all I’m going to say. I’d like to hear about Tiel.”
