Morgan is serenity. She walked into our crazy lives and was quite at home there. She is obviously a very good mother, and she loves my brother. My brother adores her. Jordan has obviously become his son.

  Teagan and I had a little trouble convincing Morgan that Mom’s only concern was for Jordan. We explained Mom is all about kids, and her first concern is always for a child. Now that that child is one of her grandchildren, the concern triples. Long story short, Mom is of the opinion that Liam might not be ready for home and hearth, and if that is the case, and he screws up, Mom is going to stand up for Jordan, not Liam. Hard to fault a grandma for defending her grandkids.

  Morgan pointed out that having someone take up for her child was not a bad thing, and over time, others would see the side of Liam that she did.

  We teased Liam endlessly, but the truth of it is that each time he looked at her, you could tell he’d already grown into the role of husband and father. I’d never seen him happier or more sure of anything. I was happy for him.

  When our impromptu family dinner was winding down, A.J. excused himself and said he had to get going. He waved and walked out the front door.

  Teagan was completely confused; waiting all of ten seconds, she went out the door after him.

  Morgan laughed and said, “So, is your sister after your roommate?”

  I pulled a face, somewhere between innocent and stone-cold busted. “What makes you think he’s my roommate?”

  Morgan counted off the facts. “Your mom mentioned that your old roommate Suzi moved out a couple of weeks ago. She said you seem unconcerned about money, and that you’re starting a new business, after having quit your job.”

  “How’d she know I quit? I thought everybody assumed I’d been fired.”

  Liam chimed in with, “I assumed Teagan told her.”

  “Remind me to smack the crap out of Teagan. Oops, sorry, Jordan.”

  I looked over at Jordan’s angelic face. He was loving every moment of this. I guess bigger families are better for the occasional explosion. There’s a shortage of brother-sister-sister drama when you’re an only child.

  Wait ’til the rest of the family is added into the mix. We’ll keep the child entertained for eons.

  Teagan walked back in the door.

  I looked down at Jordan and said, “Can I ask you a favor child? Can you go watch TV, ’cause this is about to get ugly, and I don’t want it to tarnish your perfect impression of me.”

  Jordan laughed and headed for the living room.

  Teagan took his place at the table.

  Before her buns hit the seat of the chair, I was on her. “You wanna tell me why, in the name of all that’s holy, you felt the need to share with Mom that I quit my job? Then you can tell me what the hell gave you the right to tell anyone that A.J. is my roommate? And you can finish up with what you want done with your ashes. You want them spread over the various eateries in town, or should I just take them to the ball field and spread them around home plate, ’cause, Teagan, I’m gonna kill you. You have about six seconds before the bludgeoning begins. Talk.”

  Boy was she pissed. So pissed she was perfectly calm. “I didn’t tell anyone that A.J. lives here. Mom guessed you quit your job, she thinks you’re so flippin’ perfect that no one would have fired you, and if you honestly think you can take me, try it. Come on, Cara. You throw the first punch.”

  I was completely deflated. I schlumped down in my chair. “Well shit.”

  “Yeah, well shit. I’ve given up most of my vacation time for you. I’ve come over here forty times a day to try to help you. I’ve fed you, supported you, and put my life in danger by keeping a secret from Mom, for you, and the way you repay me is to assume, without a moment for me to defend myself, that I’ve betrayed you. You know what, Cara? I’m done. You do whatever the hell it is that you think you need to do to recapture that tiny bit of sanity you once possessed, and when you get back to that place, if you get back to that place, you give me a call. Until then, you leave me the hell alone.” She stormed out the front door.

  Liam was up and after her.

  Morgan asked if there was anything she could do, which broke my heart. I hate it when people are kind when I’ve been a moronic fool. It makes things worse, but how could she know that?

  All I could say was, “I’m sorry your announcement ended up like this. The family is nuts, but we usually have some manners.” The tears ran down my face unchecked.

  She smiled and said, “Cara, this is only one day; I’ll be a part of the family forever.”

  I let out a little laugh. “Sure you want to chance it? Teagan and I are the normal ones. We get along the best. Normally. Mostly. Usually.”

  Liam came back in the door shaking his head. He explained that Teagan was unwilling to come back in and talk. That she was headed home.

  The implosion kind of killed the mood, and Liam and his new family left a few minutes later.

  I grabbed everything off the table, trying to keep busy, still hoping that Teagan would get a couple of blocks and turn around. She didn’t.

  I took a shower and checked my phone. No calls. I tried her a couple of times, but she didn’t answer. I didn’t even bother with a gown or lounging; I went to bed and cried myself to sleep.

  Teagan and I never fight, but when we do, it tears me apart.

  My phone rang. I was instantly awake. All I knew for sure was that it was a bright sunny morning after a long fitful night.

  I grabbed the phone before it made it all the way through the chimes I use as a ringtone. “Teagan?”

  “No, love, it’s me.”

  “Mom? Everything ok?”

  “I’d say you and your sister are quite the pair. She was over here first thing this morning for a cup of tea. She didn’t sleep at all last night. Said the two of you had quite a row.”

  I started to cry. “Not really. We didn’t even have a chance. I said some stupid stuff and hurt her feelings. She walked out before I could say I was sorry. She hasn’t picked up when I call her.”

  “You need to fix this, love. She’s in a sad state. She wouldn’t tell me what the two of you went on about, but she did say that she felt betrayed. Cara, love, she’s your sister. Don’t let this simmer between the two of you. You and she need to set this to rights.”

  “I’ll take care of it, Mom.”

  “See that you do. You are the older sister, Cara. It is your place to go to her. I don’t ask much of you girls, but I’ll not have you fighting, or worse, not talking at all. If you girls don’t fix this soon, your father and I will become involved.”

  “We don’t want that.”

  “No, we don’t. Love, talk to her. Work it out.”

  “I will, Mom. I promise. It’s just a misunderstanding. I let my big mouth get away from me. I’ll take care of it.”

  “See that you do. Would you like to come for dinner? Your father has requested stew.”

  “I appreciate the offer, Mom. Let me see if I can get hold of Teagan. Maybe I can drag her over with me.”

  “That would be lovely.”

  With that, she was gone. My parents rarely say good-bye. Something about death or superstitions. They usually just hang up the phone, or make a comment about talking to you soon, or seeing you later. It can be annoying, but it is never going to change, so there’s no reason to harp on it.

  I tried calling Teagan again before I took my shower. No answer. Again after I’d blown my hair dry. No answer. I was becoming annoyed. It’s one thing to fight. It is a whole other thing to be ignored.

  A.J. had his head in the fridge when I walked into the kitchen. “Hey, good morning.”

  “Good morning.” I guess I didn’t hide my woes as well as I thought I did, because his response was immediate concern.

  “Ok, not such a good morning. Are you ok?”

  “I got in a fight with Teagan. She won’t answer my calls. She hates me.”

  “She doesn’t hate you. Maybe she went out last night to take her frustrations out on some lucky guy, and she’s busy, or not home yet.”

  How could he be fishing for information about my sister’s love life at a time like this? I was instantly pissed. “I highly doubt that. She isn’t involved with anyone right now. I’ve gotta go. Have a good day.”

  Before he could respond, I grabbed my purse and keys and headed out the door.

  Teagan’s apartment is close. Really close. If you head out my apartment door, wind through the parking lot of my complex, turn right at the first available turn, and go down four blocks, you’re at her place. She has an apartment over the garage of a private home. It’s really cute. Bigger than you’d think. She can get to her place through the garage or up the outside steps.

  The outside of the building is painted a lemony yellow with white trim. They let her have free artistic reign when decorating inside. They even wrote it in the lease. When she first moved in, we went hog wild. We painted everything. Her bedroom is a custom-blended pink. She has her bed done in white with lots of different textures and an antique quilt thrown across the foot of it. Her one hail to femininity. Everything else in the place is pretty much unisex.

  Her living room has a huge TV against one wall. Her couch is leather. Her area rugs are modern-ish. She has a bistro table of dark wood and a couple of chairs in the dining area.

  Her furniture is pretty simple.

  It’s the walls that get your attention.

  We borrowed an overhead projector from the library and did our best impersonation of a home improvement show.

  We found a very art deco type picture of a man and woman, had it copied onto a transparency, and projected that on the dining room wall. We did a silhouette, first tracing their outline, and then filling it in. Normally people do that kind of thing very black and white. Not Teagan. We painted the wall a really pretty deep putty color and did the silhouette two shades lighter. It is actually subtle, or stark, depending on the time of day and the amount of light in the room.

  On the wall with the overgrown TV, she went geometric. It’s a weird shape that feeds into itself. Can’t really put it into words. It’s the pattern off of some famous piece of fabric that was popular years ago. We copied the puzzle-like pieces of the shape, brought them to the copy shop. Had them copied onto heavy card stock, and made templates out of it, or is that considered a stencil? It was a pain, but turned out amazingly well. Thank God she only wanted it on one wall, or we’d still be painting.

  Again, it’s the color that changes everything. Instead of using the bright colors that were used in the fabric, Teagan decided to paint the whole wall the color of the silhouette, the one two shades lighter, and then use a glaze for the pattern. The tinted glaze made it a tiny bit darker and gave it a bit of sheen. It came out looking really sophisticated.

  For her bathroom, she took the leftovers of all the paint, taped that thin plastic coversheet stuff on everything she didn’t want painted, took the stir sticks from the paint store, dipped them in the paint, and splashed paint on the walls. At first, it looked kind of like an experiment in blood spatter patterns for a CSI show, with an alien as the victim, since all of the dots and splashes were in shades of beige, but we kept at it, and by the time we were done, it looked fantastic. We, on the other hand, just looked like the victims of an explosion at a paint factory. We’d been very careful to mask off all the stuff in the bathroom, but didn’t even bother with a painter’s cap for ourselves.

  Believe me, it takes a long time to wash dried paint out of red hair.

  I was thinking about all that as I drove over. I was ready to use shared memories as ammunition if I needed to resort to that. Grown-up memories. This situation called for some finesse.

  Teagan’s car wasn’t in the driveway. She never parks in the garage, unless it’s raining really hard when she drives up, and it hadn’t been raining last night or this morning. Not a good sign.

  Although a garage parking place is part of her rent, the man who owns the house, an older guy, has a workshop in the back of the really oversized garage, and Teagan likes to leave him as much space as she can.

  The thought crossed my mind that she might be hiding from me, so I parked, got out of the car, and headed up the side stairs.

  Her landlord called out to me before I’d made it more than a few steps.

  “She’s not home.”

  I tried not to let my disappointment show, no use in getting Mr. Johnstone involved in our drama. “Thanks, Mr. Johnstone.”

  “She took off. Said you were mean to her and she was going to do the rest of her vacation as a road trip. She said she would be home in time to go back to work.”

  “Crap!”

  “Sounds like you girls had quite an argument.”

  “No, I’m just an idiot.”

  “She said something like that.” He gave me a kind smile.

  “Did she say when she’d be back? When she has to report back to work?”

  “Didn’t say. My guess is she’s calling in to the office from time to time to see if there have been any disasters they can’t handle without her. If they can keep the thing afloat without her, she’s finally gonna use up some of that comp time.”

  “Well, thanks, Mr. Johnstone. I’ll keep calling her.”

  “You do that, honey. Me and my brother had a blow-up, been about twenty-three years ago. Haven’t talked since. Don’t let that happen to the two of you.”

  “Oh, that won’t happen. Mom would kill us both before she would allow us not to talk.”

  “Good to hear. A close family is a rare thing in this day. I wish mine were more like you and yours.”

  I’d have to remember to invite Mr. Johnstone to a family dinner. He might change his opinion. A close family and all the obligations that go with it can be a pain in the butt.

  I admit, even with all the drama, I wouldn’t change anything. I know, most people think this kind of interdependent, enabling, co-whatever-the-hell, old-fashioned family stuff is dysfunctional, but the truth of it is, the only reason they think that is because they’ve never experienced it. They’ve never known the feeling of having your family be your best friends. If they had, they wouldn’t trade it for the world. True, when things go ass over teakettle, it is ugly for a bit, but what a blessing even that is. To know that you have something of such value to lose makes you hold onto it all the stronger. It’s hard to describe for someone who hasn’t experienced it. My family means everything to me.

  Speaking of which, I drove straight over to Mom’s house.

  Mom was at the kitchen sink, peeling potatoes. Not good. She was armed. Had a knife in her hand. She looked up with a smile that immediately faded. “Lord love a duck, Cara, what have you done? I’ve not seen your face that long since you stepped on that wee little lizard during your short-lived attempt at jogging.”

  “I didn’t kill anyone this time.”

  “What have you done?”

  “Teagan took off on a road trip. She’s so mad at me she doesn’t want to share the same city streets.”

  “She’ll be fine, in time. Maybe she decided to take off out of town with that young man it is rumored you were both fawning over at the restaurant the other night. Could that be it?”

  She searched my face to make sure I knew that she would know if I lied.

  I chose to ignore the bait. “No, Mom, that isn’t it. I’m just an idiot. I pissed her off, and she took off.”

  “There’s no need to be talking that way to your mother, Cara Siobhan. Tell me, where did your sister go?”

  I had the good grace to look completely pathetic; even my mother was taking pity on me. She let the questions about A.J. settle for another time. “Mr. Johnstone said she took off, but he didn’t say where she was going. He said he figured she was going to burn the rest of her comp time on a road trip. She even mentioned to him that she is mad at me. That isn’t Teagan’s style at all. She must really be mad.”

  “Oh my darlin’ girl, anger is a motivator for the shallow of heart. Teagan is not shallow. She must be hurt, not angry.”

  With that, I burst into tears. Again.

  “There’s no need for tears, Cara. If they make you feel better, then pour them out, but I doubt that is what will happen in the end. In the end, all the tears will do is make your nose red, your eyes swell, and make the unenlightened feel sorry for you. You would be better off to laugh or to work. Your sister will be fine. Sooner or later she’ll calm down and call you. I’m certain of it.”

  “You saw her?”

  “Why do you say that, love?”

  “Because if you didn’t know where she was and what she is doing, if you didn’t see with your own eyes that she is whole and alright, you would have me drive in one direction, and each of your other kids in another, ’til we tracked her down. One of the advantages of having so many kids is that none of us can get very far without you knowing where we are or sending the rest of us out on a sibling hunt.”

  “I haven’t sent you to look for your sister since you kids were still riding bicycles. Why do you exaggerate so?”

  “The only reason you haven’t sent us out searching is because there’s been no reason. You know full well that if Teagan was really missing, you would send us out looking for her. That means she isn’t missing. That means you know where she is. Where is she, Mom?”

  “You’ll watch your tone with me, young lady. I’ll not be spoken to as if I were the fishmonger’s wife. I do not know where your sister is, but she did stop in to tell me that she is off on an adventure for the rest of her vacation. She’ll not make herself available to you for your new entrepreneurial endeavors. It would seem you are on your own for that.”

  “Is she really miserable?”

  “Knowing that she is driving you crazy will lift her spirits a bit. I’m sure when she gets home, and you’ve taken it upon yourself to find a way to apologize properly, she’ll come around.”