Single by Saturday

“As I told Mom,” Michael said, “I’ve had a breakneck schedule since Karen and I met.”

Karen placed a hand on his arm. “But I have to take some of the blame for the delay in meeting you.”

Michael glanced at her.

“Michael knows I don’t have a family of my own and he worried that I’d be intimidated by your sheer numbers.”

Janice tilted her head to the side. “No siblings?”

Karen shook her head and offered everyone her practiced lie all at once. “My parents have been gone for some time, and they only had me. My aunt is the only family in my life.”

Michael placed a hand on her back and sighed.

Not that Karen was going for the sympathy card, but her words seemed to change the mood in the room.

Hannah was the first to say anything. “Well now you have us. We’re noisy, but we’re not bad or anything.”

For the youngest child, Karen was surprised that she took on the role of mediator. That was usually left to the middle child, which would be Michael, and right now he was staring down his father, almost daring the man to say something.

It appeared to Karen that Sawyer wasn’t going to say anything else, and thankfully, Janice stepped between them. “I need to check on dinner in the kitchen. Karen, why don’t you come with me and let the men have a chat?”

Ready to escape, Karen glanced at Michael, lifted her eyebrows as if to say good luck, and then followed Janice.

The traditional home had a divided kitchen, giving her and Janice some privacy.

“Please try not to be offended by my husband’s demeanor,” she said as soon as they were out of hearing range of the living room.

“I understand.” Though she really didn’t. The truth was, she hadn’t been around a large family who said what they felt because they could. In Karen’s world, when you didn’t know someone you were polite until the stranger became a friend or an enemy. Of course, that could happen in a matter of hours, but it usually took more than a sentence or two to find a reason to dislike someone.

Sawyer named that tune in one sentence.

“I can see by your face you’re upset,” Janice said.

Rena walked into the kitchen at that moment. “Well of course she’s upset. Dad’s being an ass.” She stepped over to the refrigerator, opened it, and removed a bottle of wine. With a wave in the air she asked, “Would you like some, Karen?”

God yes. “Please.”

“It will take a day or two for him to warm up,” Rena explained.

“Michael said as much.” Karen slipped onto a high stool that was tucked under the kitchen island.

“We were all shocked to hear Michael had gotten married.” While Janice spoke, she wrapped an apron around her waist and opened the oven to check what cooked inside. From the rich aroma coming from the kitchen, Karen guessed it was some sort of roast. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a home-cooked roast. Aunt Edie was a pasta sort of woman, the by-product of her first husband being a full-blood Italian.

“It was a bit of a surprise to Michael and me as well,” Karen told them.

Rena shoved a corkscrew into the bottle and began twisting the plug free. “You really only knew each other for a few weeks before you got married?” she asked.

“Yeah. When I think about it, I realize how reckless it was to get married so quickly.” All the combined lines, some holding truth and others only skimming the surface of truth, started to fall from her lips. “I think he was charmed because I didn’t give a crap about his fame. Threw him back a couple of notches.”

Rena handed her a glass of wine and poured herself one.

Because there was no way Karen would escape the kitchen without more information about her and Michael, she told as much of the truth as she could without giving away their secret. “Michael started talking marriage almost from the first date.”

Janice exchanged looks with Rena.

“And you thought that was normal?”

Karen sipped the wine, pushed past the taste, and called herself a wine snob before taking another drink. Michael would hate it. Good thing he’d be stuck drinking beer while he was in Utah. Part of the macho image he loved so much meant he only drank wine in public during Hollywood parties and fancy dinners. Karen tried to tell him that plenty of heterosexual men drank wine, but he wouldn’t. He was the ultimate closet wine snob…and it was rubbing off on her.

“I thought it was crazy. But why not? We knew there wouldn’t be a lot of time to get to really know each other before he had to run off to shoot another film.”

“So why rush it?” Janice asked.

Karen shrugged. “I can’t really explain it, Janice. And as for not visiting with everyone here, I think some of that has to do with both of us realizing, after the fact, that we rushed.” They were both staring at her now.

“You’ve been married for a year.”

Karen nodded. “And I can count on one hand the amount of months we’ve spent together in that time. Michael wasn’t lying when he said his schedule has been grueling. Your son works very hard.”

“Are you suggesting you barely know each other?”

Karen shook her head. “No. I think we know each other better than anyone else in our lives. Michael will be the first to tell you he has a lot of superficial friends. Hard to avoid in Hollywood.”

The women seemed to relax. Karen knew this was where she proved to the family that she wasn’t using Michael, but she wasn’t about to profess undying romantic love for him either, not with their divorce only months away. A little doubt would soften the blow of obtaining a daughter- and sister-in-law in the same year as saying good-bye to her. This might very well be the only time Karen spent with the Gardner family. She needed to remember that and keep her barriers up. She drank more of her wine and set the glass down. Already the liquid was going to her head. She glanced at the clock and noticed it wasn’t yet four thirty. Oh well, it’s five o’clock somewhere.

The door to the kitchen opened and Tracey walked through. “Hope you don’t mind me interrupting. I thought I’d bring the boys a beer.”

“Is it bad in there?” Karen asked.

Rena found beer in the fridge and handed them to Tracey.

Tracey offered a polite smile. “Let’s just say that I’m sending in liquid courage and then coming back in here as fast as I can.”

Rena rolled her eyes. “You should do something, Mom.”