Chapter 4

“I knew it would happen.” Jenna beamed at her sister. “I knew it.”

Morgan shook her head. “Yes, okay, fine. You’re a prophet. An oracle.” Jenna had called soon after Morgan had gotten back from her dinner with Shane, and Morgan had let slip some of the night’s events. Only the late hour had kept Jenna from coming over right that minute. Instead, she settled for coming to the store as soon as she could.

“Don’t be a grump,” Jenna teased. She bounced on the chair. “I mean, come on. He’s cute and funny and I’m glad you’re going out with him.”

“Me too!” chimed in Casey. “We need new things to talk about. Astrid and I are in the boring but comfortable stage of the relationship.”

“Don’t you start,” Morgan warned, but then gave in. She opened a box of comics and began sorting through the contents. “You’re both incorrigible. Don’t you need to be at one of the salons, Jenna?”

“Not today, thank heavens.” Jenna drew in and let out a deep breath. “I have a day off. Finally.”

“Good for you,” Casey told her.

The doorbell chirped and they all looked over.

“Mom?” Morgan darted a glance at Jenna, who looked as surprised as she felt.

“Hi, sweetie.” Elaine smiled as she walked over to the counter. “Surprise! Hi, Casey. Your hair looks so cute.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Blake.” Casey came over and hugged the older woman. “You look great. How’s your knee?”

“It’s fine, thanks. Walking helps. Shush.” Elaine held up a hand as both Morgan and Jenna went to protest. “I just saw the doctor yesterday. He says I’m doing fine and wants me to exercise more. So I don’t want to hear any more ‘You need to rest, Mom,’ or ‘Take it easy, Mom,’ all right?”

“Okay,” Morgan said, and Jenna nodded.

“What brings you here, Mrs. B?” asked Casey. “Looking for the latest Captain Marvel? Or Batman?”

“How about Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin?”

Casey, Morgan and Jenna all stared at her, dumbfounded.

Elaine laughed. “You should see your faces.”

“How did you even know the name of that comic?” Morgan asked. Her mom had always indulged Morgan’s love of comics, but never paid attention to what they were.

“I have my ways.” Her mother wiggled her eyebrows and made them all laugh. “For heaven’s sake, Morgan, even an old woman like me can use the internet. Anyway, I was looking for my daughter, and how about that, I found two for the price of one.”

“I’ll give you a discount if you take both of them,” Casey said in a loud whisper.

Elaine laughed. “I think it’s far too late to do anything but keep them.” She gave Casey a sly look. “Besides, we lost the receipts.”

Casey snickered.

“Seriously, Mom, what’s up?” asked Morgan. “I can’t remember the last time you came in.”

“Let’s be honest, it’s not exactly my scene,” said Elaine. “However, I wanted to talk to you and Jenna and thought I’d start with you. Lucky I found you both here. I’m tired of being at home. I’m starting to drive your father crazy, even with going back to the office part-time.”

“It’ll do him good,” said Jenna. “He needs that sometimes.”

“He probably does,” her mother agreed. “So, is now a good time?”

“I think so.” Morgan looked over at Casey. “You okay if we go into the office for a bit?”

“I’m fine,” said Casey. “And Josh will be here soon.”

“All right, then. Come on back.” Morgan led the way to the office. It wasn’t huge, but had enough room for the three of them.

“Want anything? Water or soda?” Morgan asked.

“No, I’m fine.” Elaine settled into the chair. “Is everything all right? You haven’t had any more trouble have you?”

“No, we’re fine. I swear. We called the police and filed charges and we’re just waiting to see what happens now. Insurance will take care of most of it, we just need to line someone up to do the work. Really, it’s okay.”

“You need a better security--”

“Mom,” Morgan said gently, “we know. We’ve talked about it. Security wouldn’t really have helped. They came in and pretended to be regular customers. It’s just something we have to deal with as best we can, and we did.”

“All right. You know your father’s going to come and do his own inspection,” Elaine warned. “He’ll want you to upgrade things.”

“And I think he’ll realize we’ve done what we can,” Morgan said.

“Moving on, are you set for your book signing?”

“Getting there,” Morgan said with a smile. “Still hard to believe it’s real. Anyway, what’s up, Mom?”

“It’s about Brianna’s wedding. Don’t roll your eyes like that,” Elaine said. “You either, Jenna.”

“I didn’t. Much.” Morgan slumped down in her chair, and Jenna cleared her throat.

“First, I’m sorry about dinner the other night. I know Brianna has been difficult,” Elaine continued, the warning in her eyes still there. Morgan and Jenna both held their tongues. “But your father and I have been talking and we’ve decided a few things.”

“Okay,” Morgan said warily. “What things?”

“I’ll tell you but you both have to hear me out before you say anything.” Elaine gave Morgan and Jenna each a pointed look. “All right then. Now, I know you don’t approve of Brianna’s plans, but--Morgan, you said you’d hear me out.”

Morgan lowered the hand she’d held up to stop her mom. “It’s not a matter of approval, Mom. I don’t care about her plans. I care that she’s been treating me, and Jenna, like crap.”

“Yes, that’s another problem, and we’ll get to it, but let me keep going,” Elaine said. “Let me just jump in. The main thing is, your father and I have talked and we would like to pay for your tickets to go to the wedding.”

Jenna’s eyes widened. “Wow, Mom, really?”

“Mom, when I said I couldn’t go, that wasn’t to get you to pay for it,” Morgan said. “I didn’t like how Brianna tried to manipulate that.”

“I know, sweetie. That’s not why we’re doing it.” Elaine gave her daughter a pointed look. “I know what she was doing, Morgan. I’m not blind. We’re doing it because we, your father and I, would like for you to be there. This is a family event, and I know you and Brianna don’t get along very well. But it would mean a lot to us to have all of you there.”

“But it’s so expensive,” said Jenna. She bit her lip. “I was going to have to say no as well. I couldn’t afford the trip and the bridesmaid’s dress too. Not without maxing out credit cards.”

“No, you won’t do that,” said her mother firmly.

“I’ll pay you back,” said Morgan. It irked her that despite drawing her boundaries regarding Brianna and trying to explain them and stick to them, her parents were doing this. She felt they were undermining her even though she knew that wasn’t their intention.

“So will I,” said Jenna.

“We’ll sort that out later,” said Elaine. “Right now, this is something your father and I would like to do.”

“Thanks, Mom,” said Jenna.

“You’re welcome, hon.” Elaine turned to Morgan. “What else?”

Morgan sighed. “I honestly don’t know if I should go. I wasn’t kidding, Mom. Brianna has insulted me, she stuck me with a dinner check for over a dozen people, she accused me of sleeping with Evan’s friend for, I don’t know, some reason. It made no sense.

“I know she says she wants me there, but it’s all about appearances. How would she explain that her own sister wouldn’t come to her wedding? She doesn’t care about having me there. And after all that, I can’t say I have a lot of incentive to go.”

Elaine was silent, and Morgan was relieved her mother didn’t try to deny any of it.

“I have a feeling,” Morgan went on, “that if I did go, she’d find reasons to be mad at me, to blame me for anything that goes wrong, and that also doesn’t make me too anxious to go.”

“But you’d get to be in Fiji with Shane,” Jenna pointed out. “That might be worth the trade off.”

Elaine raised an eyebrow. “Shane? Who’s Shane?”

“Morgan’s boyfriend,” Jenna said with a grin.

“Really?”

“Wait, wait,” said Morgan, sitting up straighter. “We’re going to get all off track. Shane is a friend of Evan’s, he’s going to be the best man. And okay, we’re dating, but it’s very recent. So it’s not relevant here.”

“Right.” Jenna was still grinning.

“You’ll have to bring him over sometime, Morgan. We’d like to meet him,” Elaine said.

“Okay, but one thing at a time. Let’s finish this discussion first.”

“Morgan, we can’t make you go, but we hope you do. We have been over our finances and we can do this, and we will be fine. If you insist on paying us back, we will work something out. But please, we’d like you to go, for us. I’m sorry Brianna has acted badly and for what it’s worth, I’ll try to talk to her about it. All right?” Elaine said.

Morgan thought. “All right. I’ll do it for you and Dad. But, I won’t promise to put up with Brianna’s bullshit. I am not going to placate her or just smile and nod while she insults me. I won’t cause trouble but I am not going to just sit and take it.”

“That’s fair.” Elaine nodded. “I don’t know that I can help much, but I will let you handle any of that.”

“Oh boy,” said Jenna, frowning.

“What?” Morgan and Elaine both turned to her.

“I just thought of something.” Jenna looked sympathetically at Morgan. “This is going to reopen the whole bridesmaid issue again.”

“Oh, Christ on a pogo stick.” Morgan groaned and dropped her head on her desk. “Kill me now.”

“You don’t want to be a bridesmaid?” her mother asked.

Morgan explained the issues as quickly as she could, feeling like she was going in circles. The same problems kept coming up, and the same lack of solutions.

“Well, I’m sorry but I said I’ll stay out and I will, unless asked.” Elaine stood up. “I will say this, though. I’ve always told you girls that ‘no’ is an answer, whether you want it or not. If you want to say no to this, you should, and Brianna will just have to adjust.”

Morgan was skeptical. She’d never heard either of her parents say such a thing about Brianna unless they were joking around, as if they knew it would never happen. Still, her mother sounded serious this time. Morgan decided to believe her.

“Thanks, Mom.” Morgan got up and came over to hug her.

“All right, time for me to get out of here,” said Elaine after hugging Jenna. “Your dad and I are going out for dinner tonight with Evan’s parents.”

“All right. Have a good time.” Morgan walked out with her mom and Jenna back to the main part of the store. When Elaine offered her a ride, Jenna accepted and Morgan watched them go after they made their good-byes.

After they had left, Morgan turned back to Casey, who raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Looks like I’m going to Fiji,” Morgan said.

Shane waved to Casey as he walked into the store. He’d started stopping by occasionally because it was the easiest way to find Morgan. While she didn’t spend all her time there, it was the most likely spot. It was also nice to have somewhere to go after work that wasn’t his empty house.

“Hi, Shane,” Casey said. “Ready to try a comic book?”

“I--I don’t know. I’ve never read any. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

Casey narrowed her eyes. “Never? Never ever? Not even when you were twelve or thirteen and wanted to look at sexy women but didn’t want to get caught looking at porn on a computer?”

Shane looked at her, startled, then laughed. Casey made Morgan look subtle. “No, I can’t say I did.”

Casey shook her head. “It’s what I did. No one ever suspected. I don’t know why more people don’t do that.”

“I obviously was not a creative enough thinker when I was a kid.”

“See, you should have known me. I could have hooked you up with some good stuff.”

“Casey, stop making comics sound like drugs.” Morgan came into the main room and gave her friend a playful swat on the arm. “We’re not an opium den.”

“We’d sell more if we played up the taboo angle,” Casey countered. “People love that kind of thing.”

Morgan shook her head and smiled. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s why you love me.” Casey winked.

“I’m probably going to come back from Fiji and find you’ve created an actual opium den.”

“When the cat’s away,” Casey teased.

“You’re going?” Shane asked. “I thought you’d decided not to.”

“It’s a recent change,” Morgan told him. “I’ll explain later.”

“Don’t forget your bikini,” Casey said. “Or do they have nude beaches on Fiji?”

Shane wondered if he was blushing. He hadn’t thought about such things, but now he had a feeling he’d be thinking about them a lot. As Morgan and Casey chatted, he tried not to look at Morgan and think how she’d look in a bikini. He failed, and worse, Casey noticed.

“She looks good,” Casey said, grinning at him. “We went to Florida a couple of years ago.”

Busted. Shane wanted to sink to the floor.

“Casey, stop.” Morgan tried to sound stern but Shane could see that she was trying not to laugh. “You’re embarrassing him.”

“If he’s going to hang around, he’ll have to get used to it. I’m equal opportunity,” Casey told Shane.

Morgan shook her head. “You want me to get a boyfriend, then you want to scare them off. You are my cross to bear.”

“I don’t want to scare them off. It’s just that if I do, we know they aren’t right for you. I’m not your cross, I’m your litmus test.” She crossed her arms and gave Morgan a knowing look. “Besides, you can’t tell me you weren’t imagining him in a Speedo.”

“You’re lucky I can’t fire you.”

Shane stifled a grin as Morgan blushed. He didn’t feel so bad about imagining her in a bikini.

“Oh, you wouldn’t fire me,” said Casey. “You love me too much. Plus I have all the passwords.”

Shane watched the women, amused by the easy banter and wondering if he had ever had a relationship with anyone where he could do that. He’d always been so careful growing up. He’d wanted friends, but his home situation had been difficult and occasionally embarrassing, and he hadn’t cultivated many close friendships.

Given his parents’ penchants for drama, Shane had adopted the tack of being quiet and keeping his head down. He wanted to stay out of the way, out of any emotional crossfire. When Mark and then Chloe had come along, he’d tried to run interference for them as best he could, because he didn’t want to see it happen to someone else. It was often a difficult task given that they didn’t live in the same homes.

It was time for a change, he thought. He didn’t want to be a recluse all his life. He wanted to have some fun, have friends. He just needed to learn how.

“What brings you by today?” asked Morgan.

“I just thought I’d stop by? If that’s okay?” He realized he hadn’t thought past just showing up. Socially speaking, for him, this was progress, coming here instead of going home with a take-out dinner. On the other hand, what if Morgan didn’t like that? Maybe she didn’t want him to show up unannounced. Maybe she’d like to keep her business and personal lives separate.

“You wanted to see me for no particular reason?” Morgan asked with a smile. “That’s sweet. I’m glad you did.”

“Oh, good.” He sighed in relief. “I have to say, I am not good at this stuff. Or, at least, I haven’t had much practice.”

“You’re doing fine,” she assured him. “Did you have any plans?”

“No. Coming here was as far as I got.”

“So you don’t have anything going tonight?” asked Casey. She shot a look at Morgan and they both grinned.

“No.” Shane was wary. “Why?”

“Then it’s a good night for you to learn a game. I say Morgan teaches you how to play Magic,” Casey said.

“I don’t know--” he began.

“No, hold on,” said Morgan. “You don’t have any plans, and neither do I, and you have said you want to start doing more things outside work, right?”

“Y--yes.”

“So why don’t we get some dinner, and then I’ll teach you. I promise we’ll keep it light and if you don’t like it after a round or two, we’ll stop.”

“I bet you’re good at it,” Casey said. “You’re good with numbers, right? That’s your job?”

“Yes, but I don’t know if it translates to card games.”

“You won’t know until you try.” Morgan nudged his arm. “Come on. If you don’t like it, then ... you can teach me about mutual funds or something.”

Shane laughed. “Fair enough, but I won’t hold you to that. I’m not that cruel.”

They went back to the Thai restaurant for dinner, and he noticed that Morgan didn’t bring the game up. He thought they might talk about the basic rules, but she asked about work, and his siblings, and if he’d worked out the bachelor party plans. In a way he was glad, because he still wasn’t sure what he thought about the whole thing and so he didn’t have to fake any enthusiasm.

“So what changed your mind about the wedding?” he asked.

“My mom.” Morgan sighed before taking a bite of her pad thai. “A few nights ago I was at dinner with my family. Brianna brought up how I said I wasn’t going, and made sad eyes at my parents, who said they’d pay for me. I said no.”

“But then they made you an offer you couldn’t refuse?”

She nodded. “Pretty much. Mom came into the store the other day and said they’d looked their finances over, and wanted to pay for me and Jenna. They felt it was important we be together as a family for this event, so I said yes.”

“That’s nice of them, and nice of you, too.” He paused. “Do you want to go?”

“Kind of? I mean, who wouldn’t want to go to Fiji, right? I can’t exactly say I’m looking forward to it, but I will just have to keep my chin up while visiting a tropical paradise. I’m sure I’ll manage.” She tilted her head. “How about you? Do you want to go?”

“You know, I hadn’t thought about that. Whether I want to go. I just figured I was invited, Evan asked me to be his best man, so I’d go. But I think it’ll be good for me.”

“How so?”

“One thing I have noticed since, well, meeting you, is that I was not too far from being a hermit. I don’t mean to be. So going out with you, going to Fiji, it’s a way of making myself less of a recluse.”

Morgan sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. She looked as though she was trying to decide whether she should be upset. Shane tensed, going over what he’d said and mentally kicking himself for it.

“I know you said you aren’t good with words,” said Morgan, “so maybe I misunderstood and you’re not using me as some therapeutic exercise?”

“No. Oh, god, no, that’s not at all what I meant.” Shane rubbed a hand over his face. “What I mean is that I want to get out and do more things, and to do them with you. I like doing things with you.”

“Okay.” Morgan relaxed. “I like doing things with you, too.”

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Morgan said as they finished. She picked up a napkin and fidgeted with it. “I don’t want you to feel pressured into doing it if you don’t want to.”

She did want to teach Shane how to play Magic, but was nervous. She was nervous about more than the game, she realized. She was worried that the more Shane saw her in her geek surroundings, the less he’d like her.

“No, I’ll try it,” he said. “I just, well, I don’t want you to feel bad if I don’t like it.”

“I appreciate that, but really, if you aren’t enjoying it, let me know. We can try something else or call it a night, whichever.”

Shane laughed. “I think we’d better get started or we’ll sit here worrying about hurting each other’s feelings all night.”

“You’re right.” Morgan shook her head. “I guess we’re both a little nervous about this, aren’t we? Except instead of trying to impress each other, we’re kind of--trying not to?” She chuckled. “I think we’re both overthinking this.”

“We are. Come on.” He stood up and held out his hand. “Let’s go. Show me this game so I can completely crush you at it.”

“You need to work on your trash talk.” Morgan took his hand. “But one thing at a time.”

They returned to the store and Morgan selected a couple of decks of cards. She led him into the game room to a table towards the back. The store was quiet but not empty, with some people looking at comics, chatting with Casey and the other cashier, and a few in the game room.

“Okay, so what do we do?” he asked after they’d settled at the table.

“I need to explain a few basics, but then we’ll just play. I always find it’s easier to just start playing than to try to lay out all the rules,” she said. “We can play the first games openly, so I can explain how it works better.

“All right.” She held up a deck of cards. “Here’s your deck. It’s a green deck, so all the creatures are earth-types.”

Shane blinked. “I am lost already.”

Morgan laughed and patted his hand. “It’s not so bad, I promise, and like I said, if you don’t like it, we’ll just drop it.”

Shane paid attention as Morgan laid out the basics of the game while shuffling each deck. His deck was green, hers was red. Each deck contained cards with landscapes on them--forests for him, mountains for her--and those cards were used to “summon” other cards from one’s hand.

“And then I attack?” he asked.

“Right. You decide what you want to use to attack, and then I’ll decide how I want to block, if I want to.”

“All right.” Shane nodded. “Let’s give this a try.”

Morgan walked him through the game and he felt he understood it well-enough to try a second round without her help. She won that one, but Shane put up a good fight for a newbie. They played two more rounds after that, which she also won, but he played better each time. He caught on quickly to the strategy of the game, and didn’t seem bothered that he lost.

“So, tell me, and be honest,” said Morgan as she collected the cards. “Did you enjoy it? Did you have fun?”

“You know, I did.” He sat back in his chair. “I really like the strategy aspect. I can’t say the fantasy creatures and all do a lot for me, but I like how it plays. And it moves along pretty well, too.”

“Good.” Morgan smiled. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. Next time, you introduce me to something you like to do.”

“I don’t have many hobbies,” he said, “unless you want to hit the gym with me. Or help with my DIY projects.”

She laughed. “I don’t know that I’m a gym person, so I guess I’ll have to help you with the house. That sounds like fun, really. And then I’ll introduce you to more new things.” On the other hand, she thought, maybe I should introduce him to a somewhat old thing that people like to do together. The idea of Shane’s hands on different parts of her body was both delicious and distracting.

“Hey, Morgan, can you come out here for a sec?” Casey poked her head into the game room.

“Sure,” Morgan said as she stood. “Everything all right?”

“Kind of. Not really.”

Morgan followed Casey into the store area, apprehensive and glad to know Shane was behind her. The store was empty, not surprising given the late hour. “What’s up?” she asked.

Casey gestured at Vincent, who was sitting at the staff table near the register. He looked up and Morgan’s stomach twisted. He had a black eye, a cut on one cheek, and was icing his hand.

“Oh, my god, Vincent, what happened?” Morgan hurried over and sat down next to him.

“I was, ah, home with Jeremy and--” Vincent closed his eyes and took a breath. “--he hit me.”

“He did what?” Morgan was shocked.

“Fucker,” muttered Casey as she leaned against the counter.