Lost Along the Way(97)

“Wow. You know, I always knew that you were not women I wanted to mess with. It’s too bad that Reed had to learn that lesson the hard way, but screw him. I never liked him anyway.”

“Cheers to that!” Jane said, raising her glass. “Now can I say I told you so?”

“Not yet,” Cara said with a laugh. “Maybe tomorrow.”

“Okay. I’ve been waiting a long time. One more day won’t kill me.”

They finished their celebratory dinner and cleared away the plates, then returned to their seats to dig into an apple pie and vanilla ice cream.

“So now what?” Steve asked after finishing his second slice. “What are you guys going to do next? Rob a bank?”

“I haven’t gotten that far,” Jane admitted. “Now that you mention it, I have absolutely no idea, but bank robbery is not on my to-do list. I’m in enough trouble with the banking industry.”

“Nick offered me a job,” Cara said, trying in vain to hide her excitement.

“Really?” Jane asked.

“It’s true,” Nick said.

“You know how much money people spend on summer homes out here? Serious bucks. You might end up making a fortune,” Meg pointed out.

“I might end up making nothing,” Cara said.

“It would behoove you to show a little optimism as you embark on this new phase of your life,” Nick chided.

“Sorry,” Cara said. “I’m still trying to process everything.”

“I’m positive that I’m completely f*cked. How’s that for optimism?” Jane asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m so happy that I have you all back in my life, but I am still totally screwed. I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself,” she admitted.

“Wait! What about Sheila?” Meg said. She slapped her hand on the table in excitement and Sebastian immediately hopped up from the floor and came scurrying over to her side.

“What about her?” Cara asked.

“She said she was going to sell the pictures she took of you to a tabloid.”

“Real gem of a girl, that one,” Jane scoffed.

“No. You’re missing the point. The point is, there’s money to be made by being you right now. Everyone wants to know what you’re doing, right? Everyone wants to know what’s going on with you. Hell, the news is insinuating you’re dead.”

“They are?” Steve asked. “Why?”

“Don’t ask,” Jane said. “Yeah, sure. There’s money to be made if people want to chase me and sell pictures of me looking miserable. Good for them. They’re basically bounty hunters. I hate all of them.”

“So don’t give them the chance,” Meg said. “I think you should tell your story yourself. If people want to know about you so badly, give them what they want. On your terms.”

“Are you saying she should write a memoir?” Steve asked.

“Bingo. You can write your story yourself and tell everything you want to tell, the way you want to tell it. Don’t let the media spin everything out of control. You’re Jane Logan. You tell the Jane Logan story. I’d bet you could sell it for a ton of money. You might be able to afford a new apartment, or at the very least rent one, and the tabloids will back off because the mystery will be gone. No one will care about you anymore once you demystify yourself.”

“I don’t know why you girls thought up your blackmail scheme, but didn’t think of this earlier,” Steve said. “It’s the much more obvious fix.”

“Thanks, guys. I appreciate you trying to come up with something productive for me to do with my time, but I don’t think I can write a memoir. If for no other reason than I’d like to try to move on from this phase of my life, and writing about it will only keep it alive longer. It’s so pathetic, isn’t it? I’m almost forty years old, and I’ve never really given any thought to what I wanted to do when I grew up. I went from being an unemployed actress to being an unemployed trophy wife. It’s not exactly the résumé I hoped to have at this stage of the game.”

“So what if you never held a normal job?” Meg asked. “It doesn’t mean you can’t use this time to figure out what you want to do and go after it. You’re smart, dedicated, and talented. You just need to refocus.”

“I know. I need to take some time and really figure out what I want to do now, you know? I don’t want to make any stupid decisions on a whim. I’ve made enough of those for one lifetime, and all they’ve ever done is get me in trouble.”

“I think that’s one of the smartest decisions you’ve ever made,” Cara said. “You’re right. One thing you have going for you right now is that you don’t have any obligations. You can do anything you want—once you figure out what that is, exactly.”

“Right. I just have to figure that out,” Jane said.

“You will. We will help you. You don’t have to go through this alone anymore,” Meg said.

“What do you say we clean up and then have some after-dinner drinks in the den?” Cara asked.

“Great idea. Steve, will you put a fire on and make a pot of coffee while we get rid of these dessert plates?” Meg said. Steve happily stood to head into the living room. Cara liked knowing that time apart hadn’t changed Meg and Steve’s connection in the slightest. She had no doubt that they were going to be just fine.