he grew up hating Boston teams. Then his brother moved to Boston when he got married, and since their parents weren’t around any longer, Mathis had joined them once he left the Army. He claimed it’d been a full-time job to make sure his two older nephews didn’t get sucked in by the Boston spirit, and he’d succeeded quite well. But the youngest already liked the Red Sox.
“Do you guys hang out outside of work?” Peyton asked us curiously.
Cathryn snorted. “Edward doesn’t have a social life.”
“That’s an exaggeration,” I argued. Julia slid off Peyton’s lap and climbed up on mine instead. “I meet up with you for happy hour sometimes.” And she and Tom dragged me over for barbecues in the summer. That was something.
“I’m not sure twice a year qualifies as sometimes,” Cathryn drawled.
Of course it did. “I’m not leaving this one with my parents, that’s for sure.” I smoothed back Julia’s messy waves and kissed her forehead. She was getting tired. “She’d come home popping Xanax and drinking martinis.”
It was my mother’s favorite hobby. I loved her, and my father, but they were the very epitome of the country club people I tried to avoid. If my mother had a martini in one hand and Julia was running toward her, Mother’s free hand was used to point at the maid.
Not that Julia would run toward her.
“You could invite Mags to town more often,” Cathryn pointed out gently. “Like I said, her watching Julia twice a year is hardly sometimes.”
I suppressed my flinch and took a swig of my beer instead. We were getting too personal. “She sees her for Easter too,” I muttered.
Peyton looked understandably confused, and Cathryn was seemingly in a sharing mood.
“She’s Sandra’s mother,” she explained, which didn’t help Peyton at all. So, Cathryn sent me a perplexed look before turning to Peyton again. “Sandra was the little one’s mom.”
“Oh.” Peyton furrowed his brow.
I sighed and glanced over my shoulder toward the bar. We needed new drinks over here.
“So, anyway.” Mathis was going to change the topic and ease the tension the only way he could. Bull-in-a-china-shop style. “The boss and I have a standing tradition. We get together at his place for the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup final, and the World Series.”
No one responded to that.
Julia was falling asleep on my chest, so I couldn’t count on her for a distraction or diversion.
I was contemplating waking her up to ask if she wanted that ice cream, but then a server arrived, and there was a collective rush of relief from all of us. Except Peyton. Something had soured his mood.
Goddammit.
It was up to me, which I suspected was Cathryn’s choice. She was otherwise wonderful at steering conversation into safer waters.
Peering down at Julia, I figured there was one thing I could do. Perhaps Peyton was holding back the parts of his history because I was doing the same. Maybe he thought I had trust issues; I didn’t. Maybe he did, though. For me, it was merely a time of my life that brought pain and grief.
“Mind if we move this party to the terrace?” I asked. “I’m going to put this little monkey to bed.”
“Sounds like a good idea.” Cathryn nodded. “Anything we can do?”
“Yes, bring alcohol.” I was going to need it when I reemerged. “You can come give me a hand, Peyton.”
“Yes, sir,” he responded politely. Too politely.
I’d never told him that he could call me by my name after work hours.
Eleven
“I’m not tired,” Julia whined.
“Of course you’re not, darling.” I helped her change clothes, and her head popped up from her pajama shirt. “It’s been a while since I told you the story of us.”
She nodded sleepily and pulled on the bottoms.
Peyton stood in the doorway, but I did my best not to focus on him.
“Tell it, Daddy.” She jumped over to her pillow and plopped down and under the duvet. “It starts wiv Daddy and Mommy S in school.”
I smiled and crawled over to lie down in the middle. It was easier if I could turn my back on the doorway. “Yes. They were the best of friends and grew up together.” I pulled up the duvet to her chin and tucked her in properly. “They thought it was funny that they were so alike while being so different at the same time. They had the same hobbies, spent all their time together, liked the same subjects in school, and were accepted at the same college.”
“But Daddy liked boys, and