And just as unrealistic.
It wasn’t that Megan liked being alone. She’d love to find someone great, but the last thing she needed was another egotistical man with a superiority complex running her life. She’d spent twenty years with Rodney, carefully molding herself into the perfect wife, accomplished businesswoman, and proud mother that her husband and greater Atlanta society demanded.
Only one of those things was left. Her business was gone, dissolved when she’d moved to California for Rodney’s dreams. Her marriage was a joke. Her kids remained the single accomplishment that had lasted, and they were definitely the only one she still cared about.
Megan rolled out of bed, turned some music on, and walked to the half-empty walk-in closet that housed her wardrobe. Since the climate in Moonstone Cove was so mild, she threw on a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. She slipped on a pair of slides and a thin jacket that brushed her knees and brought out the vivid blue in her eyes.
She was going to pick up Adam and Cami from Rodney’s apartment, and while she refused to dress up for the man, she’d rather eat glass than show up looking tired or slouchy. Let him regret every day he had to live without her. Megan knew she looked good.
When Adam got his license, Megan had assumed her son would take over the dad-chauffeur duties, but he didn’t like taking his car to his father’s fancy apartment in downtown Moonstone Cove since there was nowhere to park and he’d gotten towed the only time he had.
Rodney had picked them up on Friday from school, and Cami had texted the night before, asking that Megan not wait until the afternoon to get them.
She walked to the bathroom and opened her makeup drawer, then brushed on a little bit of powder, a touch of concealer around her eyes, and a dot of blush on her cheeks. It was the bare minimum she needed to leave the house, along with earrings and polished nails.
Her mother’s voice was hard to ignore, even from thousands of miles away.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was Cami.
Are you on your way?
Almost, Megan typed back.
Adam and Dad are the worst.
I’m sorry, baby. I’ll be there soon.
It’s Dad, not Adam. He made reservations at the country club for us to meet his new girlfriend or something, but he didn’t tell us and now he’s nagging Adam.
Yeah, that sounded like Rodney. Leave plans till the eleventh hour and then expect the world to accommodate you. And it had! For so many years, it had been Megan throwing things together at the last minute—dinners, outfits, vacation plans—so that Rodney’s whims could be satisfied.
Well, she was done catering to him.
If there was one thing that heading west had taught her, it was that reinvention really was possible. She’d restarted her life at forty-five, and the sense of freedom was incomparable. She’d cut loose the guilt from putting up with Rodney’s affairs, and she finally felt like she was discovering who she was meant to be. Forty-seven wasn’t too late to get that right, was it?
Did that make her some kind of cliché? Put her in some kind of first-wives’ club?
If it did, she didn’t care. She’d discovered genuine friendship and real opportunity in Moonstone Cove. She wasn’t looking back.
On her way out the door, she waved at Trina, who was FaceTiming with her best friend back in Atlanta. Megan got in her silver Mercedes SUV and headed down the hill to get her other kids. She turned left when she got to the highway and made her way through quaint residential neighborhoods on her way to the small downtown pier and shopping hub. Beach bungalows and narrow Victorian homes slowly gave way to boutiques and cafés. When she reached Wave Street and turned right, she used the voice command on her phone to text her daughter.
“Text Cami: Almost to you. Meet you in front. Send.”
In another three blocks, she saw Cami and her older brother standing on the sidewalk with their father glowering in the background. She double-parked and rolled down the window, shooting Rodney her most beatific smile. “Sorry! Parking down here is so crazy! Hop in, kids. Don’t want to get a ticket.”
She did it every time. If she parked and walked up to his apartment, he’d find a reason to keep her in conversation for an hour. Double-parking gave her the best excuse.
Rodney was a middle-aged man with silver-grey hair and wide, straight shoulders. If she didn’t see the snake inside him, she’d think he was a silver fox.
“I’m going to call you later.” Rodney shot a glare at Adam’s back as the boy clambered into the front passenger seat. “We need to talk.”
“Oh right.” Megan pretended to care. “Sure. Sure. Just ring me around four or five o’clock. Anywhere around that will work, right?” She reached into the back and patted Cami’s knee. “Hey, baby girl, how did your history test go?”
“Good.” Cami buckled up and rolled down her window. “Bye, Dad. I’ll text you.”
Adam said nothing. He just raised the window and buckled his seat belt. “We ready to go?”
She spotted traffic approaching behind her, gave Rodney a quick wave, and pulled back into the flow of cars heading toward the beach.
“So,” she said. “Who wants to go first?”
Adam asked, “Can I go to the Ethan’s house for dinner tonight with Trino and Max?”
“Ethan’s house” meant Dusi family dinner, and Trino and Max were two of Toni’s numerous nephews or cousins or something. They were on the basketball team with Adam. “Who’s driving?”
“I’ll drive there and back. They’re going early to help their dad with something.”
“That’s fine with me. Is that why you didn’t want to go to the country club with your dad today?”
“Partly,” he said.
“Yeah it is,” Cami said. “You told him you had plans that were more important than meeting his new girlfriend of the month. That’s why he’s all pissed at you.”
“Uh, why are his plans more important when Trino asked me like three days ago to come to dinner at the winery? He doesn’t get to say our stuff doesn’t matter.”
“Did I say he did?” Cami asked. “You didn’t have to say that about his girlfriend though.”
Megan raised a hand. “Okay, zip it. What girlfriend? Isn’t he still with Clare what’s-her-name?”
“Mom, that was over like three months ago.” Cami rolled her eyes.
“Who can keep up?” Adam asked. “Either way, I’m not sorry. I don’t care about his new girlfriend. If it’s real, I’ll meet her another time.”
Megan had zero opinion about Rodney dating now that they were divorced. It was the dating when they were still married that she’d had a problem with. Still, she wished her ex was a little more discreet about introducing women to the kids. It was hard to teach her children to be respectful when they saw a veritable merry-go-round of bright young things, some of whom were closer to Adam’s age than Rodney’s.
“Adam, you may go to the Dusis for dinner.” She had no doubt her son could get into some kind of trouble with his buddies, but it wouldn’t be anything major. Toni’s family knew who Adam was, and they’d keep an eye on him. “And Cami, why don’t you and Trina and I do a spa day? I think it’s been too long.”