Part Seventeen
Sydney walks sleepily toward the kitchen the next morning, surprised to hear the sounds of coffee brewing and bacon sizzling, though she isn't sure why she should feel surprised. Every time she'd gone to answer Grace's cries in the night, she'd found Marguerite already tending to her. She thinks it is a good thing that Marguerite doesn't live with them all the time.
"Good morning, darling," Marguerite says cheerily as Sydney enters the kitchen. Marguerite already has Grace up and settled in her playpen; Emily and Jack will sleep until Sydney wakes them to say goodbye. "Sit down, and I'll fix you a plate."
"Thank you, Marguerite," Sydney says, too tired to argue. Though she and Michael are supposedly okay, things are still tense between them; as a result, she didn't sleep well the night before.
"Did Michael make it in to the office?" Marguerite asks, voice soft with concern.
"I think so," Sydney sighs. "I heard him get up at some ungodly hour like four-thirty a.m."
Marguerite places a plate of eggs, toast, and bacon in front of her, as well as a fork and a cup of coffee, then sits down next to her. "Major problem at work?" she asks quietly. Sydney and Michael hadn't said much when they'd returned to the dinner table the night before; they'd been content to let Emily babble away. Sydney and Marguerite had kept the conversation to things like the kids and the new wallpaper in the kitchen while they'd cleaned up the dishes, and Sydney and Michael had headed off to bed soon after with few words to anyone, or to each other.
"I guess so," Sydney sighs, running a hand back through her hair. "One of his associates made some huge mistake, and Michael had to fire him. I don't know anything about what goes on at the law firm, of course, but I felt bad because the associate is a really good guy, or seems like one, anyway. Young, has a nice wife."
"Kids?" Marguerite asks with a frown.
"No," Sydney says. "Not yet." She remembers Lisa saying that they were going to start trying in a year or so, after she finished her graduate degree and got settled with a job. Sydney could imagine how the rest of their lives would have played out-- Todd would have made partner around the time Lisa found out she was pregnant, they would have bought a house. Maybe Lisa would have taken a job, maybe she'd have decided to stay home with the baby, as Sydney had. Either way, they would have congratulated themselves on how wonderfully and perfectly their lives were turning out. Sydney knew, because she and Michael's lives had unfolded similarly. It was painful to realize how differently things could have turned out, how differently things were going to turn out for Todd and Lisa now.
"That's what had you so upset?" Marguerite prompts. "That you felt bad for the young man?"
"That was part of it," Sydney admits. "Another part was realizing how suddenly things can go wrong for someone, and another part was how quickly and coldly Michael made the decision. He didn't even struggle with it, it was just bam, you screwed up, you're out."
"Sometimes you have to make decisions like that quickly and coldly, Sydney," Marguerite says. "He's dealing with a major law firm, millions of dollars. He can't be worried about peoples' feelings."
"I know, I understand that," Sydney sighs, nibbling on a piece of toast. "I just-- hadn't seen that side of him before."
Marguerite places a hand over Sydney's. "His business and his personal lives are two completely separate things, you realize that, don't you?"
Sydney looks at Marguerite with surprise. "How did you--?"
"Michael's father was a very similar person, Sydney," Marguerite says, rising to refill her coffee cup. "I think Michael has his priorities straighter, though. You can feel grateful for that."
"Michael idolized his father," Sydney says, a little sadly. "He talks about him as if he were some-- God, or something."
"He was just a boy when his father died, Sydney," Marguerite points out. "Doesn't Jack look at Michael the same way?"
Sydney thinks of the way Jack had insisted on having his grilled cheese cut "just in half," and she smiles. "I guess he does."
Marguerite regards her silently for a moment. "You don't feel happy with the way you and Michael left the argument, do you?" she asks. "You feel like you still have things to talk about."
"I guess we do."
Marguerite pats her hand encouragingly. "Talk about them," she says. "And then make up in the most glorious possible ways. You'll be in a great location for it."
"Marguerite," Sydney says, blushing. Then she smiles, and says, "Thanks, Marguerite. Listen, thanks for breakfast, but I'm really not--"
"Go," Marguerite says dismissively. "Go make yourself beautiful, get your things together, and go meet your husband."
"Thank you, Marguerite," Sydney says, giving the older woman a hug.
"My pleasure, dear."