Megan looked up and saw Angela Calvo standing a few feet away with a polite smile on her face.
“Angela!” Megan stood and held out her hand. “Good to see you again.”
“Is it?” Angela seemed ill at ease. She was looking at Katherine. “Do I have the right time for lunch? I don’t want to interrupt.”
“You’re not interrupting us; I’m interrupting you.” Katherine held out her hand, and Angela shook it. “We met briefly at the winery, but I’m not sure you remember. I’m Katherine Bassi. I hope you don’t mind my intruding on your lunch. I live right down the street.”
Megan was struck by a sudden memory. “You said you lived near the beach, right?”
Angela’s shoulders relaxed. “I do. I’m just a couple of blocks from this place.”
Megan gestured toward Katherine. “So you and Katherine are neighbors. I thought you might be. That’s why I invited her.”
“Oh.” Angela was smiling again. “Thank you. I haven’t met many of my neighbors yet.”
“People here can be very private,” Katherine said. “My husband and I have lived here for ages, and we still feel like newcomers sometimes.”
Angela looked relieved. “So it’s not just me.”
“Oh no; it’s not just you.” Katherine dragged a chair out, playing hostess as Megan pulled herself together. “I can’t shake the feeling that we’ve met before though. Have you ever guest-lectured at Central Coast State? Done a fundraiser there?”
“I don’t think so, but I believe my mother has, and I look quite a lot like her.”
“That must be what I’m remembering.”
Megan could tell from Katherine’s tone that wasn’t what she was remembering, but the professor didn’t push it.
“We were just talking about Megan’s son, Adam,” Katherine continued. “He loves running on the beach near my house.”
Thank God for her friends. Katherine and Toni were the best things that had happened to Megan in a long, long time. For the first time in her life, Megan didn’t feel like she had to have everything together all the time.
She could be messy if she needed to. Katherine and Toni had her back.
“Adam?” Angela sat and folded her hands in her lap. “Yes, he seems like a very bright young man, but I know he’s challenging for his father.”
Megan bristled, then immediately forced herself to calm down. “It was hard for him when Rodney left. I imagine that would be hard on any kid his age.”
Angela nodded. “I’ve told Rodney that. I think it would be beneficial for him to spend dedicated time with Adam, but then he feels like he’s leaving Cami out.” Angela looked between Katherine and Megan. “I don’t have any children, but that seems sensible to me. If I have an employee who is underperforming, I try to spend time with them to determine the issue before anything else is addressed.”
Katherine watched Angela. “That’s very sensible. Have you done this a lot?”
“Done what?” Angela reached for the glass of ice water that the waitress brought to her and sipped.
“Dated people with older children,” Katherine asked. “I think it takes a unique individual to understand the bond single parents have with their children.”
“No.” She opened the menu. “Rodney is the first man I’ve dated who has children.”
“Really?” Megan was surprised. Angela’s face was impeccably smooth with hardly a laugh line or a crow’s-foot, but she wasn’t in her twenties. This was a mature, experienced woman, and she’d never dated anyone with children?
“I avoided relationships with men who were fathers. My relationship with my own father is complicated, so I eschewed them. It wasn’t difficult.” She perused the menu. “Is the grilled-fish salad good here?”
“Yeah,” Megan said. “It’s great.” She didn’t know what to think of Angela. Her manner was warm but a little formal.
And what manner are you supposed to take when you’re meeting your boyfriend’s ex-wife?
Fair point.
Megan picked up her tea and sipped the bland brown water with hardly any sugar. On days like this, she really missed home. “So if you avoided men with children, can I ask what drew you to Rodney?”
Angela closed her menu and put it down. “That’s a fair question. Also, thank you for meeting me for lunch. I know it’s not the most common request you might get from your ex-husband’s significant other.”
“I will confess I was surprised you wanted to meet me. None of his other girlfriends did. Sorry, is it strange to mention them?”
“I think most of the women he dated were quite young, weren’t they?” Angela sipped her water again. “I’m not passing judgment, but I think that tends to make a difference. I prefer to face things that could be difficult head-on. My mother taught me that.”
My mother, the state representative.
“Difficult?” Megan shrugged. “I don’t think there’s anything particularly difficult about Rodney and me. We’re divorced, and I think we’re both happier. He was unfaithful, and I kicked him out of the house. We’d been struggling for years before that, so it was more of a relief than a heartbreak on my side.”
Not strictly true. Megan had been heartbroken, but not about missing Rodney. She’d been heartbroken that she’d devoted so much of her life to a partnership that wasn’t really a partnership. She’d given her ex-husband so much of her life, and he’d thrown her offering away. That had been the part that hurt and angered Megan the most, not losing Rodney.
“And yet,” Angela said, “he seems to be the most emotional when he’s talking about you. Do you think he has unresolved feelings for you?”
“I would hope not if he’s serious about dating you.” Megan noticed that Katherine was particularly quiet and wondered what her friend was observing. “Trust me, I don’t have any interest in reconciling with him, and neither do the kids.”
“I see.”
The waitress came and took their orders. The grilled-fish salad for Angela, a vegetarian pasta salad for Katherine, and a chicken salad for Megan.
Angela’s face was blank, and Megan tried to remember what she’d said before they placed their order. “I know that may sound harsh, but I wanted to be clear—”
“It would hurt Rodney if his children no longer want a relationship with him.” Angela carefully twisted her napkin in front of her on the table. “I can tell that much about him. He’s quite transparent when it comes to the children.”
“Does he hide his feelings about other things?” Katherine asked.
Angela glanced at Katherine but turned her attention back to Megan. “The children mean a lot to him.”
“I didn’t say that correctly,” Megan said. “I mean the children don’t harbor any illusions about Rodney and me getting back together. They’re not attached to that idea. Does that make sense?”
“So you do think they want to repair their relationship with their father?” Angela asked. “Even Trina?”
“Have you ever met Trina?”