Page 122 of The Me I Left Behind

I can go with that.“And what did he say?”

“He got angry, of course. Said a whole slew of things, which I, of course, recorded. Max’s attorney quickly ended the call.Then, about an hour before graduation, I got an email from the attorney. I’ll forward it to you later tonight, Mags.”

“What did it say?”

“That Max would drop the mental health issues and the psych evals—but only if we agree to never bring up the wrongful death incident and not file assault charges. He still wants to fight for full custody.”

Maggie stared at Julia. “He is an ass.”

“Of the biggest kind.”

“Don’t agree to that.” Maggie rose from her seat and stepped away from the group, thinking. Twisting back, she said quickly, “I will fight for my kids, and I will not let up. I don’t care anymore what he tries to do to me. He can bring up my mother’s mental illness and my depression all he wants. I can certainly justify my depression. He can slam me to the curb if he wants. But I will never,ever, give up fighting for my kids. I want them with me. I want them safe and secure and loved. I will work three jobs if I have to, and I will take care of them every, single, damn, day. And that is something he cannot do.”

She forcibly exhaled, instantly feeling a huge sense of relief.

Alice, Lia, and Julia stared back at her, smiling.

“We’re proud of you, Maggie,” Lia said.

“Mom?”

Maggie turned toward the house and saw Carol standing in the doorway, Logan behind her. “Sweetheart. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to change clothes.”

Maggie nodded, swiping tears from her cheeks.

“Mom?” Carol whispered. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I’m fine. More than fine, actually. In fact, I’m fabulous.”

Carol rushed into her arms. “I love you so much,” she whispered. “It’s going to be okay.”

Wafflesand spicy sausages were on the menu for brunch. After the tequila night, no one wanted to get up early to cook or eat—except maybe Julia. Maggie took control of the waffle machine while Alice cooked the sausages. Lia and Julia salvaged leftover Mexican ingredients to make a couple of Southwest style breakfast casseroles.

“If Sam were here,” Julia said, “he’d be digging into this enchilada egg dish about now.”

“Please take some home to him,” Maggie said. “My God, we have plenty.”

“You also have growing kids.”

“True.”

Logan and Carol cuddled together on the family room sofa, sleeping. It had been a long night for them at Project Graduation. Maggie heard them come in about five o’clock that morning and decided not to wake them until the food was ready.

But Jason and Chloe were up already. Julia showed Jason how to make the fake frozen margaritas in the blender. Chloe just sat at the kitchen island saying, “Yum!” to every new dish added to the brunch buffet.

“Jason, when you’re finished there, see if you can wake your sister and Logan, and let’s eat.”

He did, and for the next several minutes, chatter filled the kitchen while everyone filled their plates and then headed for the deck.

Once everyone found a seat, Alice set a champagne bottle and a pitcher of orange juice on the deck table. “Mimosas anyone?”

“Seriously Alice? After all the tequila last night?” Julia shot her a look.

“Now, don’t go getting allgoody-two-shoeson me, Julia. Really, now.”

“Oh, gracious yes. Me,” Maggie said. “I’ll get a corkscrew.” She set her breakfast food aside and headed back into the kitchen. She checked the drawer where she usually kept her corkscrew, but didn’t see it. “Crap.”

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