“I can’t believe you’re really here,” she said. “You have a date with someone who smells like burgers and fries.”
“I think we’ll get through it. How do you feel about a glass of wine or a drink?”
“I’d love a glass of wine.”
“Great. Where do you hang your hat these days?”
“A little spot in Sebastopol. Not too far from Lyle’s.”
“Perfect. I know just the place, right on the way to your place. Follow me?”
“I’m parked right over there. The Prius.”
“Let’s do it,” he said.
She followed him along some of the back roads toward her little town, but he turned down an alley and she got a little confused. Concerned. But then he parked behind what she thought, by the twinkle lights strung between the boughs of trees, must be the patio of a restaurant. The Cellar, the sign on the back gate said. He got out of his car, she got out of hers and he opened the gate to a patio. There were a half dozen tables; a couple of women sat at one, wine and fruit before them, but it was otherwise deserted. “They’re going to close soon, but we’re friends. I’ll get us some wine, something to snack on and they’ll say good-night before they leave.”
“Huh?”
Adam chuckled. “Would you like to see a wine list?”
“No,” she said. “I usually just have a sauvignon blanc.”
A woman wearing an apron came out of the back door. “Just in time, as usual,” she said. “How are you, Adam?”
Adam leaned toward her to kiss her cheek. “Excellent. Kate, meet my friend, Emma.”
“Nice to meet you. What can I get you?”
“Get us a bottle of Napa Cellars sauvignon blanc, a half wheel of Brie with some crackers and fruit, two waters. And thanks.”
“Just give me two minutes,” she said.
He held out a chair for Emma. “What kind of place is this?” she asked.
“Just a small wine bar. I’ve known the owners for a long time. For friends and relatives, they say good-night when they lock up, we take the bottle if there’s anything left, leave the glasses on the table and slide the dishes and leftover food right through that little serving slot so the birds don’t invade. They’ll close in about...” He looked at his watch. “I’m sure they’re cleaning up now and will be out of here in fifteen minutes.”
Sure enough, Kate was back instantly with the wine, glasses, a tray of food. Right behind her a young man followed with a bucket of ice on a stand, placing it beside the table. Kate opened the wine and Adam indicated that Emma should taste. And she presented a bill. Adam signed off on everything and thanked her. Before Kate escaped into the bar the women bid her good-night and went out the back gate.
“Why couldn’t I have found a job in a place like this instead of Burger Buster?” Emma said.
“This particular place is run by a family and I think you have to marry in, but it’s perfect, isn’t it?”
“I think I have to broaden my search, now that I have restaurant experience, if you use the term loosely.”
“Listen, I want to hear all about it—your return, your job-hunting, anything you feel like talking about, but we have to get one thing out of the way first. Maddie. She doesn’t know that you were Jock’s girlfriend or that you and Riley were best friends and...that whole complicated mess. She’s innocent of that.”
Emma considered this for a second. “Jock and Riley never told her the details?”
“Emmie, I don’t think I even know all the details, when you put it that way. I didn’t have any trouble guessing. Riley and Jock never married. They weren’t even together when Maddie was born.”
Her mouth fell open. All these years she had this mental image of Riley and Jock, young and in love. Of course she knew they hadn’t stayed together, that he’d gone on to marry and divorce another woman, but she thought that for at least a while they were a couple. “You’re kidding!”
He shook his head.
“Doesn’t that just figure?”
“What are you saying?” he asked her.
“Well, my half sister and stepsister, Drizella and Anastasia, couldn’t wait to bring me the news that my best friend was pregnant and planning to marry my boyfriend, but they never mentioned the happy couple didn’t stay together. I found out later, of course, but not while I was hurting over it. Because, hey, that might’ve made me actually feel less...” She stopped herself. “In fact, those few times we talked, you didn’t mention they weren’t a couple.”
“I tried not to mention Riley and Jock at all,” he said. “They were on and off for a little while. Maybe that’s not accurate, either—they weren’t together. They tried to create an amicable relationship for Maddie’s sake, but they never even lived together. In fact, I think I’d need a chart and a graph to understand where Maddie came from because Riley and Jock were like oil and water. But I don’t want Maddie to think badly of either of them. Well, let me be honest, I wouldn’t be devastated to learn she thinks a little badly of Jock. He pissed me off. He got my sister pregnant and didn’t exactly step up to the plate. He was pretty useless back then, but he was just a kid. And he is her father. I’d rather we all get along. And I don’t want Maddie blindsided by a lot of nasty gossip.”
“I won’t be saying anything, Adam. I’d prefer to forget it ever happened,” Emma said. “At the time, it was awful.”
“I think it’s safe to say a lot of people were hurt.”
“You’re in luck. If anyone remembers me they will have much juicier stuff than my best friend and boyfriend getting together while I was away at school sixteen years ago. All the same, Riley and Jock should explain it to her before anyone else does.”
“Of course. The minute she’s capable of understanding at least a little bit. I’m kind of an expert on teenagers. Girls Maddie’s age are filled with a kind of tragic drama and fatalism that can easily cast them in a dark place. I’ve watched it. We’ve had our challenges as a family and it hasn’t always been easy, but one thing we did manage. We managed to make sure Maddie never felt like a mistake. She always felt loved and wanted. I think.”
“It never came up?” Emma asked. “Didn’t anyone ask how Riley ended up having Jock’s baby when he was supposed to be my boyfriend?”
“I only recall once or twice. Riley said you and Jock had broken up when you went away to school, which was at least partially true. It’s been a long time—I just want to be sure Maddie always feels secure.”
How lucky, Emma thought. Since she was just a kid she had known two things about the Kerrigan family. They had very obvious struggles; life for them had never been easy. But they had enough familial loyalty and love to glue them together. Emma had always envied that because she’d never had it.
Emma’s problems began long before she lost her boyfriend to her best friend.
* * *
Emma was a bit too young to understand her placement in the family when her father married Rosemary Caliban, but it didn’t take her long to instinctively know she was only loved by her father, and her father was a lonely, unhappy, broken man.
His wife gone, John Shay married someone who appeared, on the surface, to be a good match. A woman who was willing to help raise Emma. But Rosemary was a stern woman with a mean side and a streak of jealousy a mile wide. She brought a daughter to the marriage, produced a second and clearly preferred both of them to Emma. Once Emma was