a lot of people—like a lot of women—are kind of threatened by you.”
“Threatened?” The windshield wipers squeaked against the glass. “Why would anybody be threatened by me?”
“Oh, come on. Like you don’t know.”
“I don’t know!” Tess exclaimed.
“Keep your eyes on the road. You’ve got babies back here.”
“This coming from the worst driver in the world.”
“I s’pose you’re clueless enough not to know. It’s because of the way their guys look at you,” Savannah said with exaggerated patience. “Not like all of them. But like a lot. Even guys who don’t screw around, like my dad. It drives Mom crazy. The wives and girlfriends don’t like it.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“For a medical person, you should be more observant.”
Tess remembered that silly thing Ian had called her. A luscious widow. She stomped on the accelerator. “Ridiculous.”
* * *
After she’d settled Savannah and Zoro, Tess stopped at the cabin to check on Kelly and was greeted with the smell of fresh baking. “I know this is an imposition,” Kelly said from the couch, where she and Ava were each eating a sugar cookie as they watched the rain tap on the windows. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure where else to go right now.”
“Mom, you said you were going to stop apologizing all the time.”
“Yes, but . . . We’ve taken over Tess’s home.”
Tess hung up her jacket and transferred Wren into the sling. “You’re welcome as long as I can have a cookie. Did those really come from my oven?”
“I hope you don’t mind.”
“I’m glad to know it works.”
Tess sat in the armchair across from the couch with Wren curled against her and took the cookie Kelly offered.
“This is only temporary,” Kelly said. “Staying here.”
There was nothing like a warm cookie to help stave off sadness, and Tess took another bite. “If you keep baking like this, I don’t care how long you stay.”
Kelly resettled next to her daughter and gazed out the window. “I’m thinking about going to college.”
“Really, Mom?”
“I’ve wanted to do it for years.” She looked over at Tess. “Whenever I brought it up to Brad, he’d tell me I already had everything I wanted, and I didn’t need a degree.”
“He’s weird,” Ava said. “He’s always telling me how important it is to go to college. He wants me to be a lawyer.”
“What do you want?” Tess said.
“Well . . .” Ava looked embarrassed. “I kind of want to be a lawyer.”
Kelly laughed, which made Ava defensive. “So I’m better prepared to go into politics. I think more women need to be in government, don’t you?”
“Definitely,” Tess said.
Ava pulled her legs out from under her. “Mom, I remember the things Dad told you whenever you talked about going back to school.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“He said it was a stupid idea. He said you weren’t a good enough student in high school to go to college.”
“I never studied. It’s why I’m so strict about you doing your homework.”
“You’re a lot better in math than I am.” Ava looked at Tess. “Dad told Mom she didn’t need another degree because she already had her M.R.S. Isn’t that like something old people used to say back in like the sixties or something?”
“Don’t look at me,” Tess said. “I wasn’t born then.”
Ava set aside what was left of her third cookie and studied her socks. “Dad pulled me out of last period algebra today.”
Kelly frowned. “He shouldn’t have done that.”
“It was okay. We sat in his car and talked. Or I guess he talked. He said he’s sorry and that he wants things to be different between us.” She rubbed the toe of her socks against the rug. “He said I can tell him anything, and he won’t get mad at me. Like I’d really do that.” She twisted a lock of her hair. “I think he thinks I didn’t like have sex, and I didn’t tell him I did. But . . . He didn’t look good, Mom. I’m so mad at him, but I kind of feel sorry for him, too.”
“Your father is a grown man. You’re not responsible for him.”
“I know that, but . . . I told him I was sorry I’d disappointed him. I tried not to cry, but I cried a little, and do you know what he said? He said I could never disappoint him in a million years. He told me I was perfect.”
Kelly smiled. “You’re not. But I love that he thinks so.”
“He asked me to come back home tonight.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him I’d give it