last night.”
“Your brother broke up with Amanda today, and canceled the wedding.”
“I thought something was going to happen when they left.” She didn’t tell Tammy about the other woman. It might never happen anyway. Kate wasn’t even upset about it yet. There were too many other things on her plate, at work and at home. She couldn’t let herself think about it or she’d get depressed, and she needed her wits about her for work, and to deal with Claire.
She set a time and place for lunch with Tammy the next day, and left the office at seven-thirty, after reading the discovery files again for the new case. It was shaping up nicely in spite of the hostile meeting with the two opposing lawyers that day. She was willing to go to the mat on this one, and wouldn’t agree to a settlement easily. She thought they’d win if they went to trial, which wouldn’t be for another year or two. But litigation would be expensive for her client to win the case. This was just the beginning. She was thinking about it on the way home, when her mother called her on her cell in the cab.
“Are you holding up all right?”
“I think so. Anthony broke up with Amanda today,” she said in a tired voice.
“I know. He called me. He mentioned another woman to me a couple of months ago. I thought it was a bad sign.”
“You were right about Amanda. She bored him to death.”
“Do you know anything about the other woman?” Margaret asked her.
“Only that she grew up in Spanish Harlem, is a lingerie model, and gave him a black eye. She’s not speaking to him, which is the best news I’ve had all day. I’m not even upset. My family is falling apart, Mom. You were right about that too. Suddenly they’re acting out all over the place. Tammy is the only one left standing. I’m having lunch with her tomorrow.”
“Well, there are no surprises there. You can rely on that,” she said confidently. “She’s the most solid of your children. She always has been. Oldest child syndrome. She takes care of everyone else.”
“She’s the only sane one left. Anthony and Claire seem to be losing their minds,” although Anthony seemed sensible and sure of his decision.
“Try not to let it upset you. They’ll come around and straighten up again.”
“I hope so. I feel like everything’s upside down right now.”
“They’re the same people they always were. They’re just making different choices than you would have wanted them to make.”
“There’s a major understatement. A baby out of wedlock and an underwear model? What’s next? I’m afraid to answer my phone.”
“Try to get some rest. You sound exhausted.”
“I am. I’ll call you tomorrow,” Kate promised and they hung up.
* * *
—
By the time Kate got home, Anthony had been trying to reach Alicia all day. She had blocked both her phone and her email to him. He couldn’t think of any other way to reach her to tell her that he had broken his engagement and it was over with Amanda. He had sent Amanda a text earlier that day to see how she was. She said she was going to Paris with her mother, and he was relieved. He didn’t want her to be destroyed by this, he just didn’t want to marry her. It would have destroyed him. He was certain of that now.
He tried Alicia’s Skype account and she didn’t answer. She didn’t respond to FaceTime or WhatsApp. He was dead as far as she was concerned. He had no way to reach her, and after work, he went to her apartment building, checked that her name was still on the bell, and sat on the stoop waiting for her. By eight o’clock, there was still no sign of her, and he could see that there was no light in her windows. He wondered if she was out with another man, and then he saw her, coming down the street in jeans and flat shoes with her bag of schoolbooks in her hand. She stopped ten feet away when she saw him.
“What, are you stalking me now? Get off my front steps or I’m calling the police.” Her voice was harsh and she looked angry. She sounded like the street fighter she had been as a teenager. He remembered her promise to kick his ass if he ever came near her again, and he believed she would.
“I just wanted to tell