Page 39 of Cathmoir's Sons

I close the journal, wipe my eyes, bend over, and press a kiss between my purring kitty’s ears.

“I’ll write you one of my truths in the morning. I’m tired. It’s been a long day. I’ll give the journal to Luca when I see him. I’d like stories from all of you, if Luca and Rhodes are willing to share. Time for you to go, Law.”

He tips his little triangular head back and licks the underside of my chin. Then he wriggles off my lap and pads to the back door.

I let him out and stand at the door, waiting for him to leave so I can draw the curtains. He swishes his tail, looking back at me.

I shake my head. “Go home to Cait House. Sleep.”

He plonks his furry butt in the snow and curls his tail around his paws.

“You’re a pain in my ass, Law.”

He yawns, showing me his sharp, white teeth. If he could speak, I think he’d say, “Cait.”

I leave the curtains open. If he’s determined to sit in the snow all night to watch over me, the least I can do is let him.

When I return to the couch, Jane’s brought out a bottle of pink wine and two glasses. She pours me a glass. “Shall we drink our feelings?”

“Benighted Mother, yes.”

We finish the bottle, and I fetch another from Carrie’s wine fridge, which is far fancier than my favorite rosé deserves, before I’m ready to talk.

“Am I being unkind?” I ask after my third glass.

“Unkind? No,” Jane answers. “What they did to you was unkind. You’re protecting your heart, which is understandable after heartbreak like that. You’re standing your ground, which you have to do, or these boys will run rough-shod over you. You’re teaching them a moral lesson, which is important if you have any hope of a future together. I don’t think you’re being unkind. It might be a greater unkindness to reconcile too quickly without actually forgiving them. It will only come back to bite you later with greater venom.”

I drink the rest of my glass, staring into the fire, thinking through the day with the muzzy insight of four glasses of wine. I flip open the journal to Law’s message on the first page and push it in front of Jane.

“He’s not wrong.”

“No,” Jane agrees. “He’s not wrong.”

“I think I spent time with him ... with all three of them ... after I left Teddy’s party.”

“You were gone for two days. It’s reasonable to conclude you spent time with them, given Lawson’s persistent stalking.”

“What he’s written makes it sound like I’ve forgiven him,them, when I’m, what does he keep calling it, my ‘awakened self’.”

“Also a reasonable conclusion.”

“My awakened self is a floozy.”

Jane laughs. “I doubt that.”

“What am I doing, Jane?”

“Finding your Path. The same as everyone else.”

“Why is my Path so twisty? Other people get Highway 46. I get Mother-blighted Going-to-the-Sun Road.”

Jane takes my wine glass from me and pulls me under her arm as she settles into the couch cushions. “No more wine. It’s making you maudlin. I’ve never been to Colorado, you know.”

“Colorado?”

“Isn’t that where Going-to-the-Sun Road is?”

“Close,” I say. “Montana.”

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