“Oh, he’s okay, all right.” Margo’s panic had shifted to a sarcastic anger usually reserved for ex-boyfriends or opposing counsel sitting on the other side of her conference table. “He’s probably fucking fantastic!”
Emma was losing patience. “Margo, what—”
“HeisintheSouthofFrancewithDavinaSundar!”
Margo spoke so quickly that it spilled out like one long word, taking Emma a moment to process.
“Montgomery Knox is in the South of France,” she repeated.
Across from her, Nadine’s brow furrowed, confused.
“Yes,” Margo replied.
“With Davina Sundar,” Emma continued.
Nadine’s eyes grew wide as Mr. Woodhouse turned to her again.
“Davina was that woman Knightley brought to Emma’s birthday, right?”
Nadine barely nodded. At that, Mr. Woodhouse seemed to lose interest and turned back to his paper.
Emma could only stare at the wall ahead, her initial concern dissolving into an odd mix of confusion and disbelief. “Montgomery Knox. And Davina Sundar.”
“I know, right?” Margo exclaimed, her voice going up yet another octave, so Emma had to momentarily hold the phone away from her ear. “What the fuck is that? He called Ben this morning and told him everything. I guess they hooked up for the first time at the New Year’s Eve party. The party you organized! The bastard. He said it was only supposed to be a one-time thing, but then after your birthday they connected again. They’ve been seeing each other ever since! Can you believe that?”
“No,” Emma said. Because she honestly couldn’t.
“Did he mention it to you? Have you talked to him?”
Emma tried to think back to the last time she had spoken to Montgomery. He had called the day after the party, just as Knightley was leaving. But she hadn’t picked up. And afterward, she hadn’t wanted to talk to him, so they had just texted back and forth, but even that had fizzled a couple of weeks ago. To be honest, she had barely noticed.
“Not really,” she admitted.
“He told Ben he’d be here to help with the restaurant, and now it looks like he’s going to be gone until mid-June, and that’s just ridiculous! Not to mention in breach of his contract! I think I could honestly kill him, just…” Her voice trailed off. “I’m sorry. This isn’t about Ben’s restaurant. This is about you. I know you and Montgomery weren’t technically together, but it was clear that it was headed in that direction, and I know I pushed you to like him. And now he’s left and broken your heart! It’s so unfair. And it’s my fault! I can’t even…”
She kept going as if talking Emma off a ledge, as if she were about to crumble. But as Emma listened, she realized there wasnothing even close to crumbling inside her. No tears pricking her eyes. No anger. No jealousy. And the lack of anything was a relief.
“He hasn’t broken my heart, Margo,” Emma assured her sister.
“Stop. You don’t have to say that just to make me feel better.”
“I’m not, I promise. I think I liked the idea of Montgomery more than I actually liked him.”
“I don’t get it.”
“He was fun and I had a really good time pretending that there was something there, but…” Emma paused, the realization hitting her just as the words formed on her lips. “I think I tried to like him because you liked him. And you’ve always known what’s best for me. I wanted you to be right.”
“I don’t even know what’s best formeright now,” Margo said. “I started crying last night because our stroller doesn’t have a cup holder.”
Emma smiled. “I will buy you a cup holder for your stroller.”
“That’s not the point,” Margo said, her voice wobbling like she was about to cry again.
“You’re right. The point is that your idea of perfect might not be my idea of perfect anymore.”
Margo sighed. “So what’s your idea of perfect?”
“A stroller with two cup holders.”
