“Look.” She stared up at him, suddenly fierce and a bit defensive. “I know I said I’d be at Towson University—” Oh yeah, that was it. “With their field hockey team, and, well, I was, but I ended up finishing early, and, uh.” It came out in a rush. “I actually slept over with Charlie and...”

His sleepy brain paused, processed, caught up. And he laughed. “Are you trying to confess or something?”

“What? Jack...” He could practically hear her eyes as they rolled up to the ceiling. “No, though you could be a little...something.”

“I’m happy for you.” He gave her a soft smile. “Really.”

“Well then. Not like I did it for you, but...” She gave him a dirty look, and then a fond one. “Anyway. That’s not why I called.” And then she mumbled, “None of your business anyway.”

He felt that heaviness settle back onto him, “True. Why did you call?”

He scratched at the back of his head, trying not to feel awkward. He wondered where this conversation was going and how soon he’d be able to switch on the coffee maker and get the hell away from his ongoing guilt.

“Will spotted me.” She crossed her arms, then in a mumble, “Kissing Charlie.”

“What? You—what? How—” And then oh, right. “Charlie. The headmaster at Gwynns. Of course.”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.”

“I think it’s time to tell the kids. Obviously.”

“Right.” He stood up. “Right.”

He sat back down on the couch. Thought about what Amy might say, asking too many questions, wondering if they still loved her. He stood up again in a panic. Thought about Will looking disappointed in him (which was not altogether unusual, God, he was so outstripped by his youngest son). Fell back onto the couch with a thump.

“Jack, are you, right this moment, totally losing it?” Meg was still staring up from his phone, cripes, sounding rather too amused.

“No, I mean, maybe,” he mumbled, rubbing his face. “But aren’t you—aren’t you even a little bit worried?”

Her jaw dropped and she shot him an incredulous look. “Worried? Jack, I’ve been out of my mind with worry. Not,” he must have made a horrible grimace, “Because of us, but yeah, because of the kids. But...you should have seen Will, last night. He was—”

“Inscrutable?”

She laughed. “No, actually. Not this time. He was open and just—he was just calm.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders. “Bring Amy for brunch, all right? And we’ll—we’ll just do it.”

“Okay.” He put his head in his hands, then looked over at her. “I love you, you know.”

“And I love you, you queer lunatic.” She sniffled, then shot out, “Now fuck off, it’s early and I want to get laid at least one more time.”