Tara bit her lip. “I’m sorry I would be something else to handle.”

Maybe not such an easy out, then. “Thank you for offering. I have to go to the airport, like, right now. I will be back in a week. I just. I have to deal with this.”

Tara followed Miriam out the door, as etiquette demanded. No emotion ever got between Tara Sloane Chadwick and proper etiquette.

Miriam was already regretting leaving things this way, but she couldn’t figure out how to fix this chasm right now. She had far wider chasms to worry about.

“I’ll call you a car,” Tara offered, a little stiffly. She always got formal when she was upset.

“My Lyft’s already here. I’m sorry I’m missing the takeout you ordered. I owe you a dinner next week.”

One week at Carrigan’s to say goodbye. It would be over before she knew it.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Miriam

The car had barely turned off her block when her phone rang, again, this time with a Britney Spears song.

If she didn’t answer, Cole would just keep calling. Cole had been her best friend since college, and while she loved him more than life, he was a lot. She wasn’t particularly ready to deal with him, but then again, she wasn’t ready to deal with anything. She might as well start somewhere. “Cole.”

“MIMI, WHERE ARE YOU?!” he demanded. “You never answered my texts I need you immediately.”

“Cole, breathe real deep.” Miriam rubbed her hand over her face. “I’m on my way to the airport. I need to book the next flight to New York.” She stretched out her booted legs, belatedly wishing she’d stopped to change her socks. Her entire world had just crashed, but she would rather focus on her eighteen-hour grungy socks.

“You just got home,” he whined. “What, is there an antiquing emergency? Do the Old Ladies need you?”

“I’m not going for work,” she said, dragging in a breath. “I’m going to Carrigan’s.”

“Carrigan’s?” His voice lit all the way up, nearly screeching. Cole had a long fascination with the idea of Carrigan’s, which was most of the reason she’d never taken him there. When they’d met in college, she had still spent every winter break on the farm with Cass, Hannah, Levi, and the rest of the Matthewses, but she’d always found an excuse to leave him behind. By the time she stopped going for good, they’d been living in different states.

“Wait, you don’t go to Carrigan’s. Ever. What happened?”

She braced a hand against the side of the car, grasping for purchase against the wave of grief as she said, “Cass died.” She heard him suck in his breath. “I have to sit shiva.”

“I’ll meet you at the ticket counter.”