She sought out Everett and Kay Bailey, her mother’s favorite cousins. It was a sign of devotion to her mother that Margot did this. She had always loved Ev and Kay, but the whole “catching up” thing was the last way Margot wanted to spend her time at this brunch.
They were, of course, delighted when Margot sat with them.
“Oh, what a wonderful surprise,” Kay said. “Here’s Margot! Where are the kids?”
“Back at the house,” Margot said. “With their cousins and a babysitter.” Playing their iDevices, she thought. Eating cake for breakfast.
Margot hadn’t seen Ev and Kay since her mother’s funeral seven years earlier, so there was a lot to discuss. Like her divorce from Drum Sr.
“He’s getting married again,” Margot said. “To a Pilates instructor named Lily.” A woman I had never heard of until three days ago. She ate a few huge forkfuls of barbecue and grits.
Was Margot dating anyone? “No, nobody special.” Unless you count the fifteen months I spent in a nebulous haze of sex and unrequited texting with my father’s law partner.
And how about work? It sounded as though she’d had quite the meteoric rise up through the ranks at Miller-Sawtooth. “Work is good,” Margot said. “I love my job.” Work had always been Margot’s ace in the hole. The rest of her life might be falling apart, but work—promotion, esteem, salary—had always been gangbusters. Or at least it had been until Griff. The first event of Griff was bad enough, but the reappearance of Griff had been exponentially worse. She had liked Griff months ago and regretted her actions, but over the course of the weekend, he had revealed himself to be even kinder, funnier, cooler, and more genuine than he had seemed previously. And he had liked her! He thought she was pretty! And smart! And tough and discerning! (The ultimate compliments, in her line of work.) And she had picked him off like a sniper. She had been ruthless and unethical; she had blown, blown, blown it!
Maybe the expression on her face gave away that work was a sore subject.
“Your dad seems good,” Ev said.
“Good?” Margot said. “Yep, he’s good.” As long as he doesn’t end up as a permanent denizen on my pull-out couch. More than anything, Margot hoped he didn’t default and go back to Pauline just because he couldn’t face life as a singleton.
“And your brothers?” Kay asked.
“Kevin is Kevin,” Margot said. “Out slaying dragons, making the world a safer place for humanity.” She and Ev and Kay all pivoted in their seats to observe Kevin and Beanie, arm in arm at the bar—where, Margot knew, Kevin would order a light beer and Beanie would get a V8 with nothing in it.
“And Nick,” Margot said. What the hell could she say about Nick that wouldn’t make Ev and Kay’s hair stand on end? At that moment, he was dancing with Finn to “Am I Blue?” The two of them looked like they had been welded together; Nick’s chin was on Finn’s head, her face smushed into his chest, her eyes closed. Their feet were barely shuffling. Margot watched them for a moment with awe and horror. They had spent the night together in Jenna’s room—Autumn had once again repaired to the groomsmen’s house with H.W., and Jenna and Stuart had spent their wedding night in the cottage at the Cliffside Beach Club. No one had said a word about Nick and Finn cohabiting in the family home—not her father, not Kevin, and not Margot herself. She wasn’t the moral police, they were both consenting adults, infidelity wasn’t against the law. But come on!
Jenna and Finn still weren’t speaking. They might never speak again, even if Nick and Finn ended up getting married someday.
Married! Margot barked out an unhappy laugh. Ev and Kay smiled at her as if to ask what was funny, and Margot rummaged for a neutral statement to make about Nick.
But at that moment, something happened. Margot saw a man enter the tent. Handsome guy, broad shoulders, bowlegged walk. Margot’s mouth dropped open.
No way, she thought. Oh, my God, no way.
“Excuse me a second,” she said to Ev and Kay.
She bumbled with her chair and her drink, which she had wisely decided to bring with her. She needed to get a better look.
Oh, my God, yes.
The man who had entered the tent was Scott Walker.
Inwardly, Margot squealed. She watched Scott Walker approach Nick and Finn on the dance floor. The band continued to play, but Nick and Finn stopped dead and separated, although Nick still had a hold of one of Finn’s sunburned arms.
Margot thought, Jesus, Nick, let go!
She thought, Scott is going to punch him.
Finn’s face was the face of someone who saw dead people. She looked petrified.