“I would like to meet her,” Alice added. “She sounds like an interesting woman.”
“She seemed nice enough, once I spent a little time with her,” Charlie conceded with a wary glance at her brother. She hadn’t forgotten the heated conversation they’d had the day after the Halloween party. “She’s a little reserved—almost intimidating at first—but I guess that’s because she’s a scientist with such a serious job.”
Her boyfriend, Drew, gave her a look of approval that showed he, too, had given her some advice about Catherine.
“I think it’s great that Mike’s seeing a scientist,” Amy said loyally. “I always thought he needed more of a challenge than those party girls you and Laurie kept introducing him to.”
“Weren’t you the one who nagged him at Easter about settling down with some nice young woman and starting a family?” Laurie challenged in return. “I’m not sure Dr. Travis is interested in taking time out of her career to raise children.”
“And why would she have to choose one or the other?” Gretchen demanded. “I’m raising children and pursuing my career quite successfully, thank you.”
Mick spoke up before an all-too-familiar squabble broke out among the four outspoken and opinionated sisters. “Did you do something different to the green beans this year, Alice?” he asked loudly, holding up a forkful to study it. “They don’t taste quite the same as usual.”
“I brought the green beans, Dad,” Charlie—who cooked only when absolutely necessary—said. “I just seasoned them a little differently, that’s all. Cut out the fat.”
“They taste pretty good,” her father conceded. “I kind of miss the ham hock, though.”
His daughters immediately began to chide him
about eating a more healthy diet. Knowing exactly what had brought about that change of subject, Mike gave his father a grateful look that was returned with a wry smile.
Though she made a point of smiling and nodding, Catherine had no clue what was being said around her as she plowed determinedly through a Thanksgiving dinner she barely tasted. Everyone around her seemed to be in a festive spirit, which made her own somber mood even more difficult to hide.
“Isn’t that right, Catherine?” Bill asked from beside her.
She started. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
The expressions around her told her she had not been doing as good a job as she had hoped of in pretending to be participating. Avoiding Karen’s too-perceptive gaze, she made more of an effort to pay attention.
She didn’t want to be ungracious. Already she was wondering if she should have canceled—not to accompany Mike, she assured herself, but to stay home alone with her cat and her bruised feelings.
She hadn’t heard from Mike since he had stormed out of her apartment. And she had missed him. She was still angry with him, still convinced that he had been a total jerk about her turning down his last-minute invitation to Thanksgiving dinner, but she missed him, anyway. Even more than she would have expected.
It was probably over between them. Mike would move on, going back to his more-fun friends. It was likely that he would find some young, adoring woman who wouldn’t ask him questions he didn’t want to answer, or challenge him to pursue dreams he seemed hesitant to acknowledge. Maybe his sister’s perky blond friend, she thought, trying very hard not to be catty. Knowing she failed.
As for herself, she had her work and her friends. Her cat. Her parents, who would be back in the country in only a few weeks. A good life.
Bill was making it plain that he was still open to seeing her, if she was interested. Wasn’t that what she had wished for only a few months earlier? Someone to share her life with? Someone who understood her work and her obligations, who had enough in common with her to form a solid, mutually supportive partnership.
Had she been asked to define her ideal match back then, she would have described someone very much like Bill. And yet, as she sat here beside him now, she felt nothing except admiration and general liking. He was an attractive man, but she had no interest at all in getting any closer to him.
There was more to romantic chemistry than similar careers and educational backgrounds, she understood now. She had never really cared what Mike did for a living—but she did insist on being treated with respect in return.
If Mike couldn’t understand that, then he was as wrong for her as Bill was.
“So what happened between you and Catherine, anyway?” Bob asked as he lounged on Mike’s rather battered hand-me-down couch with a football game playing on the TV in front of them.
Mike glared at the screen, though his scowl had nothing to do with the fumble that had just taken place there. “It just didn’t work out.”
“She dumped you, huh?” Bob spoke as if there could be no other logical explanation.
“She didn’t dump me. We just split up, that’s all.”
“I liked her, you know. When you said you were seeing a scientist-professor type, I expected her to be all snooty and dull, but she wasn’t like that. I mean, yeah, she needs to learn how to relax a little, but she’s not a snob. And she has a sense of humor, which is more than I can say for some good-looking women like that. I know me and Brandon gave you a hard time about being all involved with her and neglecting us and all, but I could sure understand what you saw in her.”
Mike grunted and took a swig of the canned soda in his hand, unable to think of anything to say. Almost two weeks after Thanksgiving, his emotions were still too raw to discuss what had gone wrong between himself and Catherine with any degree of objectivity.
“I guess she got tired of you always being late and stuff, huh?”