"Blake, give me the phone!" Holly tried to grab it from her daughter's hand, but Blake managed to evade her.
"What are your intentions with my mother?" she asked again.
"I swear to God, Blake," Holly said, reaching for the phone.
Once she was sure that Holly had reached peak mortification, Blake shrugged and handed it back. "What? I'm not allowed to be supportive?"
Holly rolled her eyes and said, "Sorry about that, Vic."
Victoria was still laughing. "Don't apologize. She sounds charming."
"What's she saying?" Blake asked.
"She said you're an absolute nightmare. And you are!"
"Liar," Victoria said.
"Oh, you'll say it, trust me," Holly said, but she was smiling.
"It sounds like she took it well," Victoria said.
"She was more upset that I didn't tell her for so long. And apparently we're coming back here for Thanksgiving."
"So what you're saying is that I was right?"
"Yes, you were right."
There was a sound of static. "What? You're breaking up."
"You were right."
The static continued. "Holly? Sorry, I can't hear you."
"I said you were right."
"How do you always fall for that?" she said, laughing.
"No one likes you," Holly said, but she couldn't help laughing, too.
"Everyone loves me. I'm delightful."
"I really don't think I want you meeting Blake. This isn't going to go well for me."
"You'll deserve it," Blake said.
"I've got to go commit murder. I'll call you later."
"Okay. Love you. Tell Blake it was nice to talk to her."
"Nope, I won't encourage her. I love you, too."
She hung up and looked at Blake. "Did you really need to do that?"
"Yes. I practically have a stepmother and you didn't tell me for YEARS! You would be so furious if the positions had been reversed."
"Probably, yes," Holly admitted.
"You're kind of lucky that's all I did."
"Well, hopefully it's all out of your system now."
"We'll see. It's giving me an idea for my book, though. Maybe I can stay for a while when I come visit. I bet Ireland is very inspiring."
"It's a wonderful place. Victoria's a writer, too. A columnist, specifically."
"For your paper?"
"Yes."
"I've read her. She did that column a while back on grief, right? It was so good! I forwarded it to a bunch of people."
"I didn't know you look at our site!" Holly said, touched.
"Of course I do, Mom. I'm curious about what your life is like. And it's a way to support you, getting those site numbers up."
"Thanks, sweetheart. I appreciate that." She gave Blake a hug and felt her eyes well up. She could tell Blake was crying, too.
"All I do is cry lately," Blake said, rolling her eyes.
"I'll have to tell her you loved that piece the next time we talk. Vic was really proud of it. She was working on it for months. She said that no one really talks about grief and she wanted to change that. She wanted everything to be perfect because she wanted grieving people to be seen."
"She's not wrong. It was the first time I felt like anyone understood how I felt since Ross died."
Holly squeezed her hand. "We never stop missing people."
"And it feels like I'm the only person who misses Daddy."
"You're not," Holly said.
"I haven't talked to Hart in ages and we were never that close anyway. I'm not sure if he even knows. If he does, I doubt he cares."
"I meant me, Blake."
Blake turned and stared at Holly, stunned. "Really?"
"Do you really think that because I'm in love with someone else that I've forgotten Roger? I want to spend the rest of my life with Victoria but that doesn't erase everything that came before I met her. And Roger was a huge part of that, the good just as much as the bad."
"Does she…know? About you and Dad?"
"We've talked about it off and on over the years. And she apparently found a blog online somewhere? I've never looked for it; I feel like I'm better off not knowing what's in that."
Blake pulled out a BlackBerry and moments later she said, "I found it." She got quiet again while reading it and said, "It's got everything."
"Who wrote it?"
"I can't tell…" she paused. "Wait, here's the introduction…"
Her eyes widened and she swore. "I think it's Dinah."
