“I’ve been to more than one hundred countries in the past four years,” I replied coolly. “And besides, it wasn’t as if you were bored, waiting around here for me to contact you.”
She laughed and shook her head. “You are unbelievable. I have words for you that I can’t say because my children are sponges and they’ll embarrass me in public with those same phrases. You have no idea what you’re talking about, and no idea what I’ve been through.”
“I have stories of my own,” I said. “And I want to share them with you — and hear about what you’ve been doing. But I want to do it over dinner. This weekend. With you and your brother.”
“Oh, no you don’t.” Sadie’s scowl was back. “I don’t even want to be in the same room as him. Did you see how fast he drifted the Tesla into the driveway? He could’ve killed someone.”
“Actually, the Tesla has excellent safety features to prevent exactly that from happening.”
“Are you really arguing with me about a car right now?”
“No. I’m telling you that we’re going to go out for dinner. You, me and your brother. Everyone is going to be on their best behavior.”
Sadie shook her head. “I don’t know, Misha. It’s been a long time. Maybe we should just move on with our lives. That’s what Jon and I did.”
“And I think that’s a shame. Dinner. Tonight.”
“I can’t tonight. I work tomorrow.”
“When do you not work?”
“The weekend, but I can’t do anything because I won’t have a sitter. My mom’s still working on the weekends.”
“We’ll get this figured out,” I assured her. “We’ll eat good food and we’ll figure everything out.”
“Good food is a good start,” she said.
“Dessert is my favorite,” I told her, directing a long, lingering gaze on her before getting into the car and driving — carefully — away from the woman I loved.