Ember
The Sullivan house smells like roast pork and my teenage years.
I spent half my life at this kitchen table, doing homework with Cassidy, stealing food off Sully's plate, and being told off by Maureen for sitting on the counter.
Walking in today feels like being handed a version of myself from before everything, and I'm not sure whether I want to hug her or warn her.
"There they are." Maureen meets us at the door with a dish towel over her shoulder and pulls me into a hug before I'm fully through the door. “It’s been too long since you all have been here together.” She then spots my mom. “Clara.” Maureen goes and gives her a hug. They’ve been friends for years because of us.
"Patrick, they're here!" She calls out to her husband.
Patrick appears from the living room and hugs Cassidy first. It’s one of those long dad hugs where he rests his chin on top of her head, then he gets to me and does the same.
He doesn't say anything. Patrick Sullivan has said maybe four hundred words in the entire time I've known him, but the hug goes on a beat longer than usual, and that's a whole speech.
“Come in,” he says, ushering us inside.
“Who wants drinks?” Maureen calls out.
“I think we could use some bubbles, Mom,” Cassidy says.
“Lucky I have them. Patrick, can you pop the champagne for us?”
“Go settle in, I have some things to finish up,” Maureen says.
“Do you need help?” Mom asks.
“No, I’m all good. Relax,” she says.
We head into the dining room, where everything is beautifully set. The table is set with china, silverware, and candles burning. We take our seats, and moments later Patrick comes in with the bottle of champagne and starts pouring it into our glasses.
“Boys, did you want a beer?”
“I’ll grab them, Dad,” Sully says as he gets up from his chair and heads back into the kitchen, grabbing three beers and bringing them out.
Maureen follows with roast pork, perfect crackling, and salads.
She places it at the head of the table, and Patrick starts carving.
She comes back with gravy and sauces and then takes a seat.
“Maureen, this looks delicious, thank you,” my mom says to her.
“It’s nothing, I’m so happy we are back together again.” She smiles, taking her seat.
Patrick carves the pork and serves it as we pile up our plates with food.
“I still can’t believe those boys,” Maureen says when there is a lull in the conversation. Her cheeks are flushed, I think the champagne might be working. “Trevor hasn’t contacted Cassidy all week since sending the papers. And then has the audacity to send the boxes to our front door.”
“Kevin did the same thing.” My mom gasps.
“He did? What little weasels. How dare they after everything they have done to our girls.” She shakes her head in disgust.
“Did we ever really know them? I feel duped,” Mom adds.
“Me too,” Maureen agrees.
The moms continue talking about the boys while Cassidy and I eat our lunch.
They all have valid comments about the boys, and honestly, getting the leftover boxes, plus more stuff I had left at the house, was a kick in the guts, especially since we agreed to us keeping the houses.
They should be the ones packing their boxes, but they still have four months to get the hell out of our homes before they become ours.
Cassidy and I went into the office earlier in the week to tie up some loose ends and say goodbye to the staff.
That was hard because we were still protecting the boys by not outing them.
Everyone in the office was confused, but us ghosting the business for a week, which is so not us, made them realize something was up.
There were tears because the four of us grew this business to what it is today, and it’s not our employees fault that our husbands stepped out on us.
As hard as it was and as sad as it was, it felt like closure.
The last piece of the boys and our old lives severed.
Not going to lie, I cried in my room when we got back because we are homeless, jobless, and with no idea what our futures are going to hold, and that is a scary thing.
Sully's phone starts ringing in his pocket. Maureen shoots him a look across the table that could strip paint.
"Sorry, Mom. I've been waiting on this one." He checks the screen, pushes his chair back, and disappears into the hallway.
"Waiting on what?" Maureen asks the table.
"No idea," Cassidy says. "He's been glued to that phone all week."
"It's probably a woman," Emmett says.
"It's not a woman." Cassidy scoffs.
"How do you know?" Emmett asks.
"Because he wouldn’t be secretive if it was.”
We can hear his voice drifting in from the hallway, too low to make out words, and the whole table has given up pretending not to listen.
Sully walks back in and doesn't sit down.
He stands behind his chair with his hands on the backrest, looking around the table until he has every set of eyes on him, dragging the moment out because of course he is.
"Connor Sullivan," Maureen warns. "What is going on?”
"I have good news. You'll want to hear this." He looks at Cassidy, then at me. "That was the leasing agent in New York. Jo's been hounding him all week about an apartment that was for lease on the next floor up. The poor guy probably has a nervous twitch by now. But our application was approved."
Cassidy's fork hits her plate. "Apartment?"
"Yeah, I’m moving and so are you two.” He grins. “It’s four bedrooms, four bathrooms, one floor above Emmett and Jo." He grins at his sister. "We land tomorrow afternoon and go straight to pick up the keys."
I’m in shock.
“We had to move quickly, so I did.”
“I can’t believe you did that,” Cassidy says.
Sully’s face falls. “I thought that’s what we talked about. Did you not want to be roomies?”
“No, you idiot,” she says, jumping up from the table and rushing over to hug him. “Thank you.”
“We’re going to be neighbors.” Emmett nudges me.
“Are you okay with that?”
“Of course, means I can get my apartment back.” He smirks.
“Asshole,” I grumble.
"Welcome to the building, man," Emmett says to Sully as they clink beer bottles.
“What do you think, Em? You okay being my roomie?” Sully asks.
“As long as there are no puck bunnies in our home, I’ll be fine,” I tease him.
He puts his hand over his heart. “You wound me. I would never.” He smirks.
“This is so exciting. We need more champagne to celebrate,” Maureen says, getting up from the table and rushing into the kitchen to get another bottle.
And that's when it dawns on me, in the middle of all the noise. We have an apartment. Tomorrow, when I get off the plane, I will be starting my new life in New York City with my friends.
The sound of a champagne cork popping pulls me from my thoughts, and Patrick pours everyone a fresh glass.
Maureen stands and holds up her glass. “I just wanted to say we are so proud of you girls. You’ve handled this difficult time with such grace.
I know none of this is easy, and those little cowards probably think they have gotten away scot-free, but better things are coming for the both of you.
It’s going to take time and healing, but you will get to the other side and be better off for it. ” Tears well in her eyes.
“Here, here,” Patrick adds, which makes us smile as we cheers and take a sip of our drinks.
Maureen’s right, better things are coming for us. They just won’t be in Wisconsin, they will be in New York for the foreseeable future.
The jet touches down in New York mid-afternoon, and it takes two cars to get us and our luggage into the city. Between the four of us, we have eleven suitcases, and I'd like the record to show only four of them are mine.
“You girls have so much shit.” Emmett moans as we arrive at the apartment, the driver parking in a loading zone while Sully meets the doorman and explains what is going on. The front desk has our keys waiting for us, they just need Sully’s signature. He runs off and does that.
Almost three weeks ago, we landed in New York with nothing but our gym clothes, totally devastated.
We are still devastated, but now we have our entire wardrobe with us, a new apartment to move into, and a new life to manifest. We have left the rest of our things in Wisconsin and will send for them when we know exactly what we need.
Moments later, Sully jogs back to the car, waving the keys at us. “Got ’em.” He grins.
The concierge asks if they can take the bags for us and bring them up to the apartment, and Sully agrees. Now this is service.
We ride the elevator up, one floor past Emmett's, and stop in front of the apartment’s door. Our door.
"Should we carry each other over the threshold?" Cassidy teases.
"Just open it," I tell her.
She does, and we walk into a whole lot of nothing.
Empty rooms, bare walls, afternoon light pouring through windows that run the length of the living room, the city stacked up on the other side of the glass all the way to the river.
Our footsteps echo. It smells like fresh paint. Nobody says anything for a moment.
“Wow.” Cassidy gasps.
“It looks just like yours.” I turn to Emmett.
“They all have similar floor plans, that’s for sure,” he says.
“I love the light that it gets,” Sully says. “My old apartment doesn’t get much natural light.”
“Sully, which bedroom is yours?” Cassidy asks.
“I don’t know.” He shrugs.
“You should have the primary, seeing as you are kind of paying for it at the moment,” she says.
Sully said that he would cover the rent until we got on our feet, which is truly generous.
“I think that’s fair,” I add.
“I’m hardly going to be here when the season starts.”
“Still, I wouldn’t feel right,” I tell him.
“I mean, I’m not as nice as Em, but it’s the right thing to do.” Cass smirks.
“Take the fucking primary. I know you want to,” Sully tells his sister, which makes her scream as she runs down the corridor to find it. “All the rooms are great sizes and have bathrooms, so …” Sully tells me.
I walk the empty living room slowly, and my brain does the thing it always does in an empty space, laying rugs, hanging art, and arguing with itself about sofa placement.
This room wants warmth. It needs texture, lamplight, and a dining table that seats twelve, because Emmett’s friends are always popping in.
The doorbell rings, and Emmett goes to answer it while Sully comes to stand beside me at the window. "Well? Does it pass inspection?"
"It’s awesome, thank you.”
He shrugs. “Are you already decorating?”
I chuckle. “Yes, of course.”
“Good, I’ll give Cass my credit card and you can get whatever you need for the home.”
“You’ve already been generous.”
“Hey, I’ve been living in an apartment that looks like a frat house, you said, so …” he teases. “I’m moving out of my bachelor era, I think.”
I raise my brows. “Really?”
“I’ve got to grow up at some point, don’t I?” he confesses.
“Here you are looking to settle down, and Cass and I are about to walk into our single era.”
He seems surprised by this. “You’re already thinking about dating?”
I scrunch up my face. “Hell no. I’m not sure I’m ready for anything.
I mean, I’ve only ever been with Kevin and …
” I realize what I was about to say. Sully’s eyes widen because I was about to say his name.
His eyes flick past me to Emmett, who is tipping the concierge.
“Anyway, you know what I mean. I’ve been out of the dating pool for way too long.
” He nods and vanishes to help Emmett with our luggage.
Well, that wasn’t awkward. It took me a long time to not be awkward around Sully after we slept together as teens.
And I haven’t felt awkward around him in such a long time because of my husband.
Why would Sully be interested in a frumpy divorcee when he has sexy puck bunnies throwing themselves at him daily?
Exactly, and now you’re roommates. I’m not interested in Sully.
I’m just … going through it right now, and I’m all over the shop.
Sully is a friend, a good friend, nothing more.
You’re being weird now. I am. Not sure why. Get it together, Em.
“I found my room,” Cassidy calls out. “It has a tub.” I smile at my best friend. “Have you chosen yet?” she asks me. I shake my head. “Well then, come on, let’s pick a room.”
She links arms with me and hauls me off to where the other three bedrooms are. The primary bedroom is on one side, and the kitchen, living and dining area, and the other three bedrooms are at the other end of the corridor.
“The spare bedroom should be our office, don’t you think?” Cassidy asks.
“Office?”
“Yeah, for Sullivan Black Designs.” I nod. “I know we don’t have clients yet, but we will. I’m manifesting that shit. This is it, Em. You and me living our teenage dream.” I smile at her, she’s right. This is what is important, us. “I have so many ideas on how I want to decorate the space.”
“Me too,” I tell her.
We spend the night one floor down at Emmett and Jo's, eating takeout. We’re going to stay there until we get some furniture. Sully’s gone back to his apartment to start packing things for the move.
“I can’t believe you guys have moved here permanently,” Jo says.
“It feels surreal at the moment,” I add.
“I’m so happy you were able to find something so close. Bet you are already thinking of ways to decorate your apartment.” Jo chuckles.
“So many ideas.” Cassidy smiles.
“Remind me to give you my credit card, Em, so you can go shopping. I know Sully gave his to Cass,” my brother says.
“You don’t have to,” I tell him.
“Your money's tied up in the divorce, and you're not sleeping on the floor."
“Thank you.”
"So just to confirm," Cassidy says, "two interior designers have just been handed two credit cards and one empty four-bedroom apartment."
Emmett looks a little pale.
“You did such a wonderful job on this place,” Jo adds.
“Maybe we do need to talk about a budget,” Emmett adds.
Which makes us all crack up laughing.