Page 31

Morgan was born when Carla was twenty-four, and a year and a half later, Charlie came into the world.Before she and Brian could catch their breath, they were a family of four.

Carla got bored staying at home, so even though Morgan was barely three and Charlie one, she would take them to museums and movies.Afterward, they’d visit her favorite pizza place in Brooklyn for lunch.Anthony, the owner’s son, was a close friend of Carla’s from high school, so he’d give her a discount.

Brian was barely around, and when he was, he seemed distant and stressed.Carla could tell something was going on with him, but whenever she tried to talk about it, he would dismiss her concerns and pick a fight.

Things got worse and worse until Carla filed for divorce before Brian could find out she was pregnant with their third child.She was done with him, even if he wasn’t aware of how unhappy she was.

Being a single mother wasn’t that different from what she already had been doing.As the girls grew, she avoided talking about what led to her and Brian’s split.The only thing she told the girls was that their father hadn’t been a good guy, and he walked out on them and never looked back.

Carla never wanted to be raising three young kids alone, but she ended up thriving in the role.She could decide how to raise them without anyone criticizing her, and she made sure that she was always there for them--the complete opposite of the way her parents raised her.

They ate dinner as a family every night, she attended every school event, and she helped them with their math homework up until she realized she couldn’t figure out how to divide decimals.The most important thing to her was that her children knew they were loved, cared for, and never lonely.

While the girls were young, Carla refused to bring another man into their lives, and by the time they were all adults, she had no desire to date.She never wanted a man to lie to her or hurt her again.Morgan, Charlie, and Abby were not only her family, but her whole life, and being with them made her happier than she could have imagined.

CHAPTER 17

Morgan

Morgan spent most the four-and-a-half-hour drive back to Los Angeles trying to understand why Carla would keep her green card marriage a secret from them.It’s not like they would have turned their mother and her “husband” into immigration.Didn’t she have faith her daughters would understand wanting to help a friend?

Charlie spent the time sending emails to health insurance companies on her clients’ behalf, and Abby had a running text chain with her babysitter to figure out the best way to get peanut butter out of her dog’s ear.Morgan knew all this because she could hear her sisters periodically yelling into and at their phones.

By the time she pulled into Carla’s driveway, Morgan’s stomach was growling like a police dog excited to catch a predator.The moment they walked into the house, Charlie went to call Rick, and Abby plopped down on the couch with an audible sigh.

“That was exhausting,” Abby said, closing her eyes.

“Yeah, sitting in the backseat doing nothing is tough,” Morgan mumbled.

As Abby drifted off to sleep, Morgan grabbed an apple from the kitchen and headed to Carla’s office.The room was exactly how they’d left it when they went to Vegas.Papers on the floor and all over Carla’s desk.A small piece of her expected her mother to have straightened up while they were gone.

Morgan sat in the desk chair with such purpose that it shot backward so quickly that she almost fell off.After she righted herself, she pursed her lips and cracked her knuckles as if she were about to play a piano concerto.She wanted the device to know that she was serious about finding the password, and this time, she wouldn’t take no for an answer.Her muscles tightened in readiness, then she put her fingers on the keys and typed.

Morgan started by trying Carla’s favorite things: coconut, Seinfeld, coffee ice cream, and Baby Yoda.Each time a password didn’t work she banged on the keyboard harder.After one particularly hard jab, the ‘A’ key popped out and landed in her lap.“None of you are leaving until I get past this screen,” she said to the other letters on the keyboard.

She picked up the ‘A’ key and pushed it back into the keyboard until she heard it click back into its slot.Thank goodness,she thought.Otherwise, when she wanted to curse someone out, she’d have to write ‘sshole,’ which wouldn’t have the same effect.

“I need a glass of wine,” Charlie called out from the other room.“Where is the bottle?”

“I hid it,” Morgan called back.“You’ll have to get another alcoholic to find it for you,”

“I need wine,” Charlie said again.

When Morgan heard Charlie opening and closing cabinets, she marched into the kitchen.

“NowIneed wine,” Morgan said.Charlie stared at her.“I didn’t say I was going to have any.I just said I needed some.”Morgan grabbed the wine out of a cabinet above the refrigerator and handed it to Charlie.“Sometimes you’re a real ’sshole,” Morgan said, going back into the living room.

“What did you say?”Charlie asked, following her.

“Nothing,” Morgan said.

“Hey, you woke me up,” Abby said.

“How can you fall asleep in the middle of the day?”Charlie asked.

“It’s a gift,” Abby said, sitting up and stretching her arms above her head.

Charlie opened the bottle, poured Abby a glass and filled her own glass almost to the top.