The Chicken Sisters(106)

Mae tried to focus on the beer. “Oh, come on,” she said as Patrick, with a flourish, set a fourth can in front of her. Seriously, they were all boys together? And she was just supposed to be okay with this?

“I should drink this whole thing without stopping, then burp and crush the can on my head, right?” Mae took a sip. It did taste good. “Then can I join your little men’s club?”

“Just belated bonding,” Kenneth said, kicking his feet up on a nearby plastic container. “If we had been invited to your wedding, we would have already completed these little rituals.”

Mae flushed. As embarrassed as she had been about Merinac and everything that went with it, she was now equally ashamed of having denied it, and with that shame, the anger and fear over Jay’s job came crashing back. “Well, we’re here now,” she finally said, tightly, and there was a silence as they drank their beer until she couldn’t take it any longer and turned to Jay. “So, you seriously quit your fucking job?”

“I did,” Jay said. “And then I got on a plane, because it did not seem like something to text about.”

Mae wanted to be cool, but she couldn’t manage it. She set the beer down, hard. “Your job, Jay? I just basically lost my job, and you quit yours? What are we doing for health insurance? How are we going to pay our rent?”

Kenneth burst out laughing. “Your rent, Mae? You just announced that you were moving here, taking over the family business with Jay as your wingman. Your rent?”

Yes, that was the plan. But not without lining things up, not without getting everything organized and moving bank accounts and maybe taking vacation time or even asking his company for a sabbatical. Not without a backup plan.

“Not like that! Not just, I quit! What if you want to go back? What if it doesn’t work out? What if one of us gets sick, or the kids—I wanted to get everything worked out first, I—” Now that she was trying to talk about this, she couldn’t breathe. She had not realized how much she was relying on Jay for a stable income—which she was never, ever supposed to do—and now he had burned all their bridges. She wasn’t ready to depend on nothing but Mimi’s again. She took a huge breath in and out and burst into frustrated, angry tears.

Jay got up quickly, knocking his chair over, and held her by the shoulders, then pulled her into his arms. “Mae,” he said, then more loudly: “Mae. It’s okay, Mae. I’m sorry. I gave notice, it’s true, but it’s not like I stood up on a table in the cafeteria and told them all to go to hell. I could probably go back someday, if I wanted to. It’s okay. And we have the rent. And I can COBRA the health insurance, and we have savings, and it’s okay.”

She couldn’t help it. Her shoulders shook, and all she could do was pull in deep, shuddering sobs against his chest. “Okay,” she said, and sobbed again. “Okay.”

Part of her knew she was being ridiculous. This was her idea—but what Jay didn’t seem to get is that while Mae did jump into things, she always knew where the net was. Jay had just ripped down her net.

Kenneth tapped her on the shoulder, but she couldn’t face him, and instead nodded against Jay’s chest. “Mae,” he said, “you are not your mother. And Jay, who I do not know very well but I note is still standing here after cleaning out the most disgusting stove I have ever seen, is not your father. And you are okay for money.”

Mae felt Jay nodding. “More than okay, Mae,” Jay said. “I wouldn’t have done this if we weren’t okay. You know we’re okay.”

Were they okay? They had two little kids, no jobs, and nothing but Mimi’s to hold on to. She took a deep breath, this time without sobbing, and wiped her face across Jay’s shirt for the second time that day. It was dirtier now. “Yeah,” she said. “I do know. I do.”

Jay put a hand under her chin and brought her face up to his. “I thought this was what you wanted,” he said.

Mae laughed, one sobbing, gulping laugh. “It is. I think. I don’t know what I want, I guess.”

“Then want this,” Jay said. “Because you’ve got it. We’ve got it.”

“Okay. I’m sorry.” Another breath. Mae let a tiny smile cross her face. “And you’re in, right?”

Jay crushed her back into his chest. “I’m in,” he said. “I get some things I want, though. I don’t know what they are yet. But you owe me.”

“I owe you,” she repeated, then wriggled free, holding his hand. “I’m okay now. But don’t do that again. I don’t like surprises.”

All three men laughed, and Mae laughed too, this time without the tears.

“Okay, okay,” she said. “I don’t mean to surprise you, really. You just don’t keep up.” She shook herself. Enough, enough. Jay had definitely unnerved her, but he was right. They’d be okay. She took another deep breath.

“Time to tackle Mom.” Mae looked at Patrick and Kenneth, who had produced two more beers from somewhere and were lounging in their chairs. “Well? Are you just going to let me do this by myself? Because weird as it may seem, my mother generally prefers to take anyone else’s advice over mine.”

Kenneth got up, followed by Patrick. “Your mother likes me,” Patrick said. “Does she like Jay?”