End of Story(74)

I picked up the phone and answered. “Hi, Mom. How are you?”

“Susie. We’re good. How are you, sweetie?”

“I’m good.”

“Great,” she said. “Listen. Your brother called me having a meltdown. Do you know what that’s about?”

This was a time-honored tactic of my mother’s. To pretend to be unaware of any possible contention between Andrew and me in hopes of staying out of it. Not that it worked. Case in point.

“It was about money,” I said. “Did he ask you to call me?”

“Oh, good Lord. He went on and on.” Note her avoidance as my question remained unanswered. She sighed heavily. “I don’t know what to tell him. Do you have any ideas?”

“No.”

“Maybe you could give him a call.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“Why ever not?” she asked. “He’s your brother.”

“Because he came over uninvited, stood on my front porch, and yelled at me. That’s not behavior I’m going to encourage. And I don’t owe him any money. You can tell him that if you like.”

Silence.

“Just out of curiosity, Mom, did you give him money for his new business?”

Mom cleared her throat, gearing up for more avoidance. “Andrew said you had some lowlife man with you? That he threatened him?”

“That lowlife man would be my new partner, Lars,” I said. “He just moved in with me and we’re very happy together. I’ve been meaning to call and tell you about him. It’d be great if you could meet sometime.”

“You’re seeing someone? How exciting!” Mom enthused. “When are you going to bring him for a visit?”

“We’re both pretty busy right now. But we’ll definitely have to organize that sometime soon.”

“Wonderful. Tell me all about him.” Mom, having entirely sidestepped the nonsense with Andrew, happily interrogated me about Lars for the next ten minutes. She loved good gossip. I think it made us both feel close.

When we finally hung up, Lars gave me a smile. “Your brother’s been busy, huh?”

“What’s that saying about the squeaky wheel getting the grease?”

He grunted. “You done trying to talk me out of loving you?”

“Guess so. You didn’t seem to be especially receptive to my demonstration.”

“You have to admit,” he said, “your demonstration was kind of ridiculous.”

“With more time to prepare, I could—”

“Just try trusting me?”

“Right. That’s exactly what I was going to say.” I laid my head on his shoulder. “Did you know you’re my favorite person in the whole wide world?”

“I do now.” He pressed his cheek against the top of my head. “You going to wash that green stuff off your face sometime?”

I smiled. “Eventually.”

Deborah and Henning’s fortieth wedding anniversary was held the next weekend in a jazz bar and restaurant near their home. It was a cool space with a checkered floor and lots of wrought iron. A four-piece band was set up in the corner playing classics.

“You ready?” asked Lars.

I nodded and passed him my half-full plate of chicken enchiladas with black beans and chopped salad. He passed me his half-eaten Cajun-spiced grilled catfish with rice and greens.

“They do this,” Tore explained to his sister. “Weirdos.”

Ella just nodded. “It makes more sense than me stealing my husband’s food every time he orders something I want to try.”

“Right?” I asked. “This way we both get to try two things.”

Ella was tall and blonde like Lars. She was a radiographer in San Diego, where she lived with her husband and two small children. Since Henning and Deborah visited them a few weeks back, Emilio and the kids stayed home this trip. Which was fair enough. I don’t think I’d want to wrangle two toddlers at a party either.

Cleo was at the bar chatting with Deborah. Because of course they got on like a house on fire. I was the only one who’d been besmirched by the Ex and his mom. But it was great that Deborah saw how wonderful my best friend was. How lucky Tore had been to catch Cleo.

“Everything okay?” asked Lars after taking a sip of his Corona.

“Yes. All good.” And it wasn’t totally a lie. My black crepe fit and flare dress with a plunging neckline was fire. It complemented my Prada heeled sandals to perfection. With my hair up and my new nude lip stain, I looked a treat. It just wasn’t in me to be miserable while wearing a great outfit, eating good food, and listening to live music. I’d met some of my new partner’s extended family and everything had been perfectly pleasant. Mostly.

Tore and Lars exchanged worried glances.

“What’s going on?” asked Ella.

“The neighbors are causing issues for Susie,” reported Tore, who possibly had the biggest mouth on anyone I’d ever met.

“I wondered why he was seated over with his mom instead of hanging out with us.” Ella took a sip of her margarita. “Not that I mind the distance.”

Lars frowned. “Didn’t know you had something against him.”

“Of course not. You can kind of have tunnel vision, sometimes.” She smiled. “His niceness just always felt fake to me, you know?”