He was quiet for a second. “The stress,” he said. “I think all the stress is getting to you, Ginger. The wedding, the dress, the pregnant girlfriends...”

“No, no, that’s not it. He called me. Right after we hung up, Mick called.”

“What did he want?” Matt asked, sounding more alert now.

She laughed a little. “He thought it was so great that I came to hear him sing. He thought we should get together. To talk about our good history.”

“And you said...?”

“I called him an arrogant asshole and hung up on him, then he texted me and said I had some hostility.”

“Jesus,” he muttered. “You know, I’ve made some incredible blunders, but that defies imagination.”

“It does, doesn’t it? He used to bring his guitar to holiday dinners with my parents and brothers and serenade them. He didn’t notice that they rolled their eyes and wandered away.”

“Always a show, eh?” Matt asked.

“How did I not know how ridiculous he was?”

Matt laughed. “My ex used to tiptoe through the goat shit in her spike heels when she’d come to a family dinner with me. High heels, tight, short skirt, nails like red talons. Everyone in the family looked at her like she was a clown, dressed for the circus, but I didn’t even notice how inappropriate she was. Well, not for a year or so...”

“What do you suppose happens to us?”

“I don’t know what happened to you but I was pumping about a thousand pounds of fresh testosterone,” he said. “I figured it out, just not quick enough.”

“Is that why you divorced? Because you finally figured it out?”

He thought for a second. “No, Ginger. Because she wasn’t just fancy and self-absorbed on the outside. I’d have been happy to carry her through the muck and offal of the farm. But then I found out she was like that on the inside.”

“I never would have guessed how much we have in common.”

“You have no idea. Now put your little head down. See if you can get some sleep...”

“I’ll say good-night,” she said.

“You don’t have to say good-night. Leave the line open. I’ll be right here if you need me.”

“We can’t do that,” she said. “Our phones will run out of juice and then we won’t be able to call anyone.”

“You think you’ll be okay?”

“I’m fine. Kind of embarrassed. That was impulsive. I’m not usually that impetuous, calling a man I hardly know in the middle of the night.”

“Hardly know? I can’t think of a woman I know better,” he said. “We know each other very well. If we sign off will you promise if you need to talk, you’ll just call back? No matter what time it is?”

“Sure,” she said. “But I’ll try not to.”

“Sometimes talking helps,” he said. “God, never tell anyone in my family I said that, okay?”

“Okay,” she said with a laugh.

* * *

Matt held the phone against his chest. Look out, he told himself. Danger, danger. He wanted to be there with her. If he was there, she could roll over, and he’d comfort her. He wanted to get his arms around her, hold her, whisper to her that what she was feeling seemed reasonable. And that she was no longer alone. He’d take that job in a heartbeat.

Nine

The fatigue of ALS might’ve slowed Winnie down but it didn’t keep her from staging her own wedding festivities. She rested in the morning after breakfast and a bath, generously tended to by her new full-time nurse, Lin Su. Then she was good for a little company and lunch and with an afternoon rest, she had at least a few hours of socializing and dinner. Winnie’s schedule of meals and rests had to be carefully monitored and protected to ensure she wasn’t weak or fatigued because she had planned activities!

“As if I’m surprised,” Grace said.

Grace had every reason to expect the Headly family to be wonderful. After all, Troy was. What she wasn’t prepared for was to find them more wonderful than she could have imagined. Troy’s mother, Donna, was thoughtful, funny and clearly a strong head of the family. Burt Headly was a big, good-natured cuddle-bear, always smiling, always hugging, perpetually laughing, grandchildren climbing on him all the time. When Troy and twenty-one-year-old Sam stood beside their father, the resemblance in looks and temperament was so obvious people would put them in the same family without knowing them. Troy’s sister, Jess, was very like her mother in both looks and that quiet authority. Her husband, Rick, the firefighter from Morro Bay, fit into the family perfectly—strong, good-natured, patient. And the three children, ages two, four and six, had piles of energy but Troy, Rick and Burt ran them up and down the beach until they were sandy, gamey and worn-out. When they came to what was Winnie’s house, the Headly adults kept a hand on each child, careful that they wouldn’t mess up the place or tire Winnie.

Donna and Jess were the most interested in Grace’s skating career. “I would give anything to see you skate,” Jess said.

“And I’d be happy to do that for you, but Troy might have a fit,” she said, smoothing a hand over her tummy. “It’s not as though I’d take a hard fall and hurt the baby, but he’s gotten very protective.”

“I have the matter taken care of,” Winnie said. “I had my assistant from San Francisco send us the DVDs.”

“Mother, you didn’t,” Grace said. “We can’t ask the whole family to watch home movies!”

“But we’d love to,” Donna said. “And after the baby comes, once you’re on your feet and have had a chance to practice a little, we want the real thing.”

“The girls are going to be so excited!” Jess said.

After a family dinner that Donna and Grace joined forces to cook, the women and kids sat around the great room with the DVDs playing on the big flat-screen, exclaiming over each jump, spiral, arabesque, axel and double axel. After just a few minutes, the men were on the deck with drinks, except for Mikhail, who was giving commentary on the skating. Pretty soon the little girls and Jess’s four-year-old son were twirling around the living room, making them all laugh.

Troy, Donna and Burt hustled everyone out of Winnie’s house before it was very late and Grace was able to help her mother get ready for bed.

“When we’re not in wedding mode, Lin Su will be able to settle me for the night,” Winnie said apologetically.

“I’m happy to do it, Mama.”

“I’ve had many reasons to resent this blasted condition, but I think tonight brought home to me the best reason to resent it.” She sighed. “I think you and Troy will have lots of children. I think you’ll be wonderful with them, even if you don’t have the stamina to turn them into great athletes.” She sniffed. “I hope heaven has a good window, Grace. I really want to watch them grow.”

“Oh, Mama...”

“We’re not going to snivel and drown in self-pity,” Winnie said. “Instead we’re going to get you married. You picked a good one. How you did that without my advice, I’ll never know.”

Grace laughed through sentimental tears. “It’s a wonder, isn’t it?”