Page 17 of George’s Big Day

“The people I know, and you and Brad, for fuck’s sake, all love your kids. I don’t get having children if you’re not going to…I dunno…love them.”

She took a shaky breath. “I know, and I agree.”

“He got remarried too?”

“Yep. He had four kids with his second wife. Four half-siblings I hope never to meet. They don’t need to encounter my venom over a man who—at least from the Facebook posts, from his wife’s Instagram, and from the Boston society pages—is a celebrated physician, philanthropist, and a pillar of his motherfuckin’ community.”

I couldn’t help the chuckle, and after a moment, she joined me.

“It’s so weird to hear you swear.”

“Well, I bear them both deep ill will,” she let me know.

“Kurt would say that’s not healthy.”

“Oh, I know. And I’ve worked hard to get it all out. On a day-to-day basis, I don’t think about either of them. It was me and Kurt for so long, and then me and Brad and his family.”

“His mother,” I goaded her, knowing that she and her mother-in-law, Suzie, were frenemies.

“Yes, his mother is a pill. But I’m sure she thinks the same of me. Though ever since everything happened last Christmas… When they came to visit us after New Year’s, she came into the house, walked by her son, her grandsons, and right up to me and hugged me tight.”

“What was that about?”

“She said that if Brad, or the boys, heaven forbid, had been taken from her, she knew in her heart that they were aware she loved them dearly. She would have worried about me.”

“That’s kind of nice.”

“Yes, it is. And though I drive her bananas, and she makes me want to drink, a lot, the reason we rub each other the wrong way is that we’re both perfectionists.”

“I can see that.”

“Yes.”

“What now?”

“Well, now we’re trying to be more patient with each other, and I even had her tape an episode with me where we talked about mother-and-daughter-in-law issues.”

“And?”

“And it went viral. People like to see us talking, arguing, creating beautiful curated spaces, and dissing others.”

“I bet.”

“They like to see us shop together, decorate together, and snip and snap at each other. I think it’s so true to life, you know?”

“I’m happy for you.”

“I am too.”

“And you love Brad’s father and his sister and his brother.”

“I do. His father is chef’s-kiss perfection. The father we all want and need. And I can see in him the man Brad will be. I understand that Suzie and I married the same kind of man because we’re both type A personalities.”

“No. Really?”

“I’m coming to your wedding in the fall, George, and I do have a speech to give, so mind your manners.”

“Yes, ma’am.”