Wallace launched into a ten-minute lecture on Kinship Lodge, which had been torn down twenty years ago.
Morris and Emmett planned out a kayaking day trip, and before all was said and done, they’d invited Cody and Dean along.
It was a genuinely enjoyable meal with a family accepting of its members and outsiders. An utterly foreign concept to Maggie. She felt like an anthropologist exploring a brand-new culture.
“Let me help,” she offered, rising with her plate when they’d finished.
“Uh-uh. In this house, the testosterone does the cleanup,” Morris insisted, taking her plate.
In less than a minute, Maggie was alone at the table with the women. She smelled an ambush. At least Kevin had decided to stay with her. His big head rested on her shoe.
“You and Silas seem to be enjoying each other,” Blaire said, leaning over to top off Maggie’s wineglass.
She wasn’t picking up on any threatening language from the women, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t coming.
“You two looked like you were about to go to third base on the dance floor last night,” Mama B said with an expressive wiggle of her eyebrows.
A chorus of the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” broke out in the kitchen. She could pick out both Dean’s and Cody’s voices when they joined in.
“That’s their cleanup song,” Nirina explained.
“We’re just having fun,” Maggie told the moms, suddenly feeling both defensive and envious. This is what guys didn’t get about bringing a woman home to the parents. It said things that weren’t necessarily true. Set expectations. Made things weird. Showed girlfriends a glimpse of something they weren’t truly a part of.
No matter how old she got, Maggie had accepted that she would always have that longing to belong. To be loved easily and without question. In this moment, the need for it was so keen it took her breath away.
“There is nothing wrong with having fun, sexually or otherwise,” Blaire said firmly, letting her therapy degree show.
“Nothing at all,” Mama B agreed, refilling Niri’s water glass and trailing a hand down her daughter’s braids. They shared a look, one so full of familiarity, of love, that Maggie had to look away.
“What’s your family like?” Niri asked suddenly.
“You pretty much know,” Maggie joked, gesturing toward the kitchen where Dean was helping load the dishwasher and Cody was getting tutored in science.
“That was really wonderful what you did, taking Cody in,” Mama B told her.
“No parents?” Blaire asked.
“My mom died when I was in college,” Maggie said. “I don’t have any siblings.” Not really, at least.
“I’m so sorry to hear that, sweetheart,” Mama B said, reaching over to squeeze Maggie’s hand. “How about your father?”
“It’s complicated,” she hedged, feeling like a major downer on their happy little picnic.
“We know all about that,” Sy’s mom said, raising her glass in Mama B’s direction and winking.
“Honey, you and I wrote the book on complicated,” the woman responded with a shake of her head that had her yellow plastic earrings jingling.
Maggie couldn’t imagine anything complicated about the Wrights. They were too loving, too accepting of each other to have withstood any real drama. They were the TV family she’d secretly longed for.
“Oh Lord, here we go,” Niri said. “It’s too bad I’m pregnant with your grandbaby because this girl needs a drink if we’re gonna be talking about your scandalous sex lives.”
Maggie blinked while both moms laughed.
“We’ll spare you the details,” Mama B said. “But we weren’t always this simpatico.”
“But everyone ended up where they were supposed to,” Blaire reminded her.
“I fell in love with Emmett while he was still married to Blaire,” Mama B confessed. “And let’s say that neither one of us acted in a respectful manner to the institution of marriage.”
Maggie simultaneously wanted to hear the whole sordid story and wished she were inside on dish duty.
Blaire rolled her eyes. “It was one kiss, Breonna. While we were talking about separating. Not some torrid affair.”
Mama B winked at her. “Let me be the bad girl in this story.”
“You couldn’t be the bad girl if you tried,” Blaire said with affection. “Anyway, Emmett and I divorced, and he and Breonna got married. And we made it work.”