Family at Stake. Molly O'Keefe

the mistakes in the cases.”

      “It explains how he was able to stay in the job for twenty-five years.”

      Olivia scrutinized Rachel as if she was something between glass plates and under a microscope, and she grew uncomfortable. “You know, you might be one of the best counselors we’ve got,” Olivia said. “You’re smart, you’re quick. You work hard.”

      Rachel was taken aback for a moment by the praise. “Thanks, Olivia.”

      “But you’ve still got a lot to learn.” Olivia scooped another heap of pink yogurt into her mouth and winked.

      I should have known there would be a catch.

      “You got big plans for the weekend?” Rachel asked, quickly changing the subject, before Olivia launched into a monologue about all the things Rachel still had to learn.

      “Everyone is coming to my house on Sunday.”

      “What’s Sunday?” Rachel asked, a forkful of lettuce halfway to her mouth.

      “Mother’s Day.”

      Rachel stiffened as a cold chill slid along her spine.

      “Rach?”

      Rachel watched the sparrows at their feet, rooting for food in the green grass, instead of looking at the concern and pity that were no doubt on her friend’s face.

      “Are you going to see your mom?”

      “Nope.”

      “But it’s Mother’s Day.”

      “So you said.” Rachel fought to swallow another bite of salad and whatever emotion was stuck in her throat. Anger? Guilt? Indifference? Probably indifference, she decided. It was all the feeling she had left for her mother. “It’s just another day, Olivia. Just another day.”

      “Not to your mom, who would probably give her right arm to hear from you. Come on, Rachel, she’s forty minutes away.”

      Might as well be on the far side of the moon, Rachel thought, and chucked a piece of lettuce at the birds.

      “Let’s not spoil your first hour back among the living with talk of my mother, okay?” she asked nicely. She was a pro at dodging the mom questions. And since her dad had died five years after she left New Springs, and no one even knew she had a brother, she didn’t have to answer those questions at all. She liked it that way.

      “Fine,” Olivia huffed, and then muttered “obstinado idiota” under her breath.

      Rachel smiled and watched the birds squabbling over the limp lettuce. She threw them a piece of cucumber, her appetite suddenly vanished. She wasn’t an idiot. Idiots were people who kept throwing themselves against the rocky shores of their dysfunctional family. Trying to make things right. Trying to fix the past. Well, if there was one thing Rachel knew, it was that there was no fixing the past. The future, sure. The past was better forgotten.

      “We’re having Nick’s family and mine for a barbecue all day,” Olivia said.

      “Wow, that should be quite a party.”

      “Why don’t you and Will come over to my house?” Olivia asked, and Rachel winced. There was no more Will in her life and Olivia’s fuse was going to blow when Rachel told her.

      “Your godchildren are dying to see you—”

      “No fair using your girls as bait,” Rachel laughed, though she would like to see Ruby and Louisa. It had been a few weeks since their last trip to the beach.

      “And you can protect me from my mother-in-law,” Olivia suggested. “You guys can talk about whatever it is you Anglo folks—”

      “Tupperware and English muffins.”

      “That’s what you talk about?”

      Rachel nodded. “Most of the time.”

      Olivia laughed and Rachel decided to stop the conversation before it even got started. “Will and I broke up.”

      “What?” Olivia’s eyes were wide. “When?”

      “Last weekend.”

      “No del oh—”

      “Oh, stop. It’s hardly the end of the world.” Will had wanted a family, children, a home and a dog of some kind, and Rachel wanted none of that. Had, in fact, made it clear since the second date, which was why, when he asked her to move in, she had been so stunned. Angry and stunned.

      Why do they do that? Think that two months of dinners, sex and Sunday brunch will change my mind.

      “What happened?” Olivia stroked Rachel’s arm, and she twitched. Rachel didn’t really want Olivia’s pity and she really didn’t want any of the pats on the back and hugs and offers of ice cream gluttony that usually came with breakups.

      “We wanted different things, Liv.”

      I want the works, Will had said, his eyes wet as he’d watched Rachel pack her overnight bag. Family. Kids. I want to be needed. I want you to need me. And that’s never going to happen, is it?

      Rachel with dry eyes and a cold heart had said no. Don’t pretend to be betrayed, Will. You knew how I felt about marriage and kids from the beginning. And then she’d picked up the stash of things she’d kept in his apartment and never looked back.

      “You know…” Olivia looked at Rachel with so much compassion that Rachel had to pretend sudden interest in the cuff of her green cardigan. “We are not destined to become our mothers. That’s a lie. You will not become your mother, or your father. You can create your own family and it can work.”

      Rachel sighed and looked up at the big blue California sky as if the answers to all of Olivia’s comments might be there and Rachel could just point and say, “Look.” But they weren’t, so Rachel was left to her usual spiel.

      “Why is it when a woman decides she doesn’t want a family it somehow all relates to her mother? I just don’t want a family. That’s all, nothing nefarious. Just no thanks. Is that so hard to understand?”

      “No, but I understand you’re chickenshit, that’s for sure!”

      Rachel turned on Olivia, only to find her friend laughing. “You’re hilarious,” she said.

      “Yes, I am.” Olivia set her bag on the files between them and stretched out her legs. Rachel’s attention was caught by that red flag that sat on top like a loaded weapon. “You know, I never really liked Will.”

      “What?”

      “Yeah—” Olivia scrunched up her face “—he was just a little too…shiny. He used hair gel. Men shouldn’t use hair gel. Even if they are investment bankers.”

      “Oh, for crying out loud,” Rachel muttered. She turned her head so she could see the name on the file label. It started with an A.

      “Yeah, he was too together, like he’s played it safe his whole life. You need a man who knows what it’s like to be a little out of control.”

      “Your insights into my love life are spectacular, really, but—”

      “You are not getting any younger.” Olivia crossed her legs, and the hem of her skirt lifted and settled around her knees. Her toenails, though chipped and faded, were painted pink to match almost the entirety of her wardrobe, but in the center of each was a red rose. Olivia called her homemade pedicures the ultimate accessory.

      “I’m thirty, Liv. Hardly ready to pack it in.”

      “I’m just saying…”

      Rachel wiggled her pale naked toes and figured out the key to getting the red-arrow case and Olivia off her back without having to suffer through any more talk of mothers and men in one fell swoop.

      “How about I come over on Saturday