He cleared his throat. “When I talked to Chef earlier about what I’ll need to do for Sunday, he told me I should bring you a boxed lunch this afternoon.”
The lump of emotion that she’d fought all day tightened into a fist in her throat. “Thanks.” She met him halfway across the office to take the box then waved him toward one of the guest chairs facing her desk. She put the box in the small fridge in her credenza and tried to compose herself before she turned back around.
Taking a deep breath, she clasped her hands on top of the pile of paperwork on her desktop and smiled at Major’s second in command. “Where are we since we talked this morning?”
“Jana was able to get all the servers she’ll need for the number of RSVPs we have. I got with Orly and arranged for the steam tables to be taken over to Lafitte’s. I double-checked with all the food vendors to make sure we’re still on track for everything to be delivered tomorrow—to Lafitte’s. And the pastry chefs guaranteed me that they have everything they’ll need to make the doughnuts and stuff for the event in the park.”
“I’ve also talked with Orly,” Meredith noted, “and he’s arranged for drivers to transport the food out to the park early Sunday morning. Are there some kitchen porters on the schedule to help with loading and unloading and setup once it all gets there?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks for stepping up and handling everything, Steven. I guess it’s good practice for when Major leaves to start his restaurant, huh?” Meredith shivered. She might be mad at him right now, but that didn’t keep her from wanting to continue working with him.
“But he’s not—” Steven shook his head. “He told me he’d turned down your parents’ offer to start a restaurant.”
Did she need more proof of Major’s distrust of her? “Oh. That’s interesting.” Her phone rang. “I guess that’s all. I’ll call you if I have any other questions.”
She waited to pick up the phone until Steven left. “Facilities and Events. This is Meredith.”
“Hey, Mere. It’s me.”
“Hey, Jenn. What’s up?”
“I just heard about Major’s accident. Is he okay?”
Meredith ground the heel of her hand into her forehead, trying to will away the dull, throbbing headache. “He had to have surgery on a compound fracture in his left leg last night, and he has a couple of cracked ribs and some bumps and bruises.”
“Whoa. Sounds rough. He’s still in the hospital?”
“Until tomorrow or Saturday. I’m not sure which.”
“I guess you’ll be spending your evening out there tonight instead of coming for family dinner?”
She hadn’t thought about today’s being Thursday. “Actually, I’ve got a ton of work to do for this weekend, and then I’m going home to crash. I didn’t really get any sleep last night.”
“Let me know what day Major is released, and I’ll send some meals over for him.”
“Forbes is going to take care of getting him home from the hospital.”
Jenn didn’t say anything for a long time. “What’s going on?”
“It’s—it’s private. I can’t talk about it.” But she needed to talk to someone. Why did Anne have to be gone for ten more days?
“Look, I know I’m just your younger sister, and that you’ve always chosen to confide in Anne about these things; but I am your sister, and I am a grown-up who can keep things confidential.”
Before she could think twice, Meredith blurted out everything that had happened yesterday—from the dinner-that-wasn’t, to meeting Major’s mother, to Major’s reaction this morning when he learned she’d discovered his secret.
“I had no idea.” Jenn whistled. “It’s pretty rotten that he didn’t tell you a long time ago.”
“It’s not rotten. He was just protecting himself, I’m sure.” With several hours’ distance from their encounter, Meredith’s anger began to abate.
“There’s protecting yourself, and then there’s flat-out lying.”
Jenn’s vehement defense of her brought Meredith’s first real smile of the day. “You know, I’ve replayed every conversation I’ve tried to have with him about his family, and he’s never actually lied to me. He’s always just hedged, changed the subject, or told me part of the truth.”
“You’re going to stick up for him?”
The image of Major lying there in the hospital bed, bruised, scratched, and utterly distraught brought Meredith around full circle. “I love him, Jenn. Yeah, I’m upset that he didn’t trust me enough to tell me the whole truth, but it’s something we can work through.”
“I still think he’s a jerk for not telling you.”
“Let me ask you this: Do you tell the guys you date everything about our family when you start dating them?” Meredith picked up a pen and started doodling in the margin of her notepad.
“Are you kidding me? If I told guys I’m one of eight kids, they’d immediately think that all I want is to marry them as fast as I can and start popping out babies.” She paused. “Oh. I see what you mean.”
“Major said he learned a long time ago not to tell people about his mother, or they thought he might have problems, too. I imagine that some of the people that happened with were women he dated. I’ve heard that some forms of mental illness are genetic.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard, too. Hold on.” A rustling sound followed by tapping came through Jenn’s end of the line. “What did you say his mom has? Paranoia?”
“Schizophrenia.”
“Hold on.” More clicks. “How do you spell that?”
Meredith spelled it for her.
“Okay, this Web site—which shows that it was written by a panel of psychiatrists—says that there’s only a 10 percent chance that a child can inherit schizophrenia from a parent with the disease ... condition.” Jenn paused for a long time.
The lull gave Meredith time to think—and to listen to her heart. Her shoulder muscles began to relax; her head stopped throbbing.
“It says here that if someone has schizophrenia, they start having problems by their teens or early twenties. So Major’s, like, way past the age for you to be worried about him having it.”
Meredith laughed. “That was never really a concern for me.”
“Just the lying part.”
“Right—even though he didn’t lie to me.” She tapped her pen against her chin. “The truth of the matter is that I love him. I’ve loved him for a very long time. I’m not going to let something as simple as the fact his mother is ... a little different from ours, scare me off.”
Major looked up from the old copy of Gourmet magazine one of the nurses had scrounged up for him. “Hey, Forbes.”
Dressed in his expensive suit, Forbes looked every inch the lawyer. “How’re you feeling?”
“Better now that most of the anesthesia has worn off.”
Forbes shrugged out of his coat and started loosening his tie. “Pain?”
“Some. Actually, my ribs hurt worse than my leg right now. But they tell me that won’t last long.” Using his arms for leverage, Major pushed himself into a more upright position—and grunted at the pain that wrapped around his chest.
“Have they told you yet when they’re going to release you?”
“Tomorrow morning, if all goes well.”
Forbes pulled one of the visitor’s chairs closer to the bed. “You’re going to come stay with me until you’re up and about.”
“No, I can’t—”
“How long have we been friends?” Forbes removed his cufflinks and rolled his sleeves up to mid-forearm.
“Since high school.” Major narrowed his eyes, pretty sure he knew where this was going.
“More than twenty years. And in all that time have you ever known me to back down or not do something I say I’m going to do?”
“No. But in all that time have you ever known me to rely on anyone but myself?”
“No, but I’ve always thought you should every once in a while.” Forbes waved his hand dismissively. “Besides, the doctors have already told you that you shouldn’t be home alone until you can get along on crutches by yourself, haven’t they?”