Osmosis

by Susan X Meagher

  “I’m good,” he said. “Very good.”

  He’d barely settled in his seat when people began to approach him, wishing him well or reminding him they’d met fifteen years ago at a golf tournament or something similarly forgettable. Catherine watched him work, a little surprised at how comfortable he seemed to be in the unfamiliar spotlight. When they had a moment alone, she said, “Maybe you should have gone into politics. You’re a natural.”

  He smiled. “Not really. Practicing law for all those years helped me get comfortable in uncomfortable situations. I truly prefer being a lawyer.”

  “I suppose you’ll be back to that fairly soon. That is still your plan, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. I’ve enjoyed my time in Washington, but I much prefer San Francisco. I’ve been putting aside some money to buy a small place in Carmel or somewhere else around Monterrey Bay. That’s still my favorite place on earth.” He gave her a smile that was heavy with memory and sadness.

  She found herself almost reaching up to touch his cheek, but stopped herself an instant before her hand moved. She would have never guessed that she would make the offer that was to come from her mouth, but as the words left her lips, she didn’t regret them. “Don’t do that, Jim. I haven’t been down to the house in so long I hardly recall what it looks like. And even though Jamie loves it, she doesn’t want to spend her weekends down there. I want you to use the house whenever you want. It was always your refuge, and there’s no reason in the world that it can’t continue to be.” His eyes widened, then he tucked his lower lip into his mouth, a gesture she recognized as his guard against showing too much emotion.

  “I … can’t believe you’re being so generous.”

  Laughing softly, she said, “Am I usually not?”

  “Oh, no!” He touched her arm, looking almost panicked. “You know how much I admire you, and one of your best traits is your generosity. It’s just that … I don’t deserve a gift like that.”

  “That’s for me to decide, isn’t it? When you get back, treat the place as your own. If I’m ever planning on being there, I’ll call you. You’ve kept up your golf membership, haven’t you?”

  He grinned, looking like a little boy. “They waived my fees for my term in office. It’s just like you always said, ‘If you don’t need the money, everyone is willing to give it to you.’”

  Charmed that he’d recall her having said that, she smiled at him. “It’s sad, but very true. The club would never do that for a man who’d lost his job.”

  “Not unless he lost his job as the head of a law firm to become a senator,” Jim said, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

  Jamie and Mia showed up just before the band play the National Anthem. “Hi!” Mia said to everyone, kissing each as she moved down the line. Jamie followed along behind her, doing the same. They ended up next to Catherine and Jim, and Jim moved aside so that Mia would sit between him and Catherine, leaving Jamie next to him.

  “What took you so long, honey?” he asked Jamie.

  “Nothing important. I wanted to wear a long-sleeved shirt to cover up this stupid splint, but all of my nice ones were at the cleaners, so we had to stop and buy something.”

  She smiled placidly, and her father chuckled at her expression. “You look very nice,” he said. “But are you sure you didn’t have even one long-sleeved shirt?”

  Catherine reached over and patted her daughter’s leg. “He’ll never understand, dear. Your father and I have had this discussion too many times to count.”

  Jim turned to Mia. “How’s life treating you? Are you enjoying Colorado?”

  She made a face. “I’ve seen about one one-hundredth of a percent of it, and that much of it was nice. Jordan’s so busy that we have almost no time to do anything fun, but being with her makes it worthwhile.”

  “I’m going to see your father tomorrow. Are you and he…?”

  “We’re getting along pretty well. He knows I’m here, so you don’t have to plead the fifth to protect me.”

  “I’d gladly stand up for you, Mia. Let me know if your father gives you any trouble. I might be able to arrange to have him named ambassador to … someplace very, very far away.”

  “Cool! Could you have me named ambassador for Colorado Springs? I could use the dough.”

  “Really? Adam isn’t taking good care of you?”

  “Oh.” She looked at Jamie, then back at Jim. “I thought you might know that my parents stopped supporting me.”

  Jim cocked his head, his brow narrowed. “They stopped? Why?”

  “Because of Jordan. They don’t think I’m a lesbian.” That got Conor’s attention, and he leaned over and raised an eyebrow. “Which I’m not,” she added, sticking her tongue out at Conor. “But I’m in love with Jordan … no matter what you call me.”

  “I have some experience with being unreasonable, Mia. I’d be happy to try to knock some sense into him.”

  She laughed and leaned against him, pushing him a little, treating him just like one of her friends. “No, but thanks for the offer. We’ve made some progress, but I think it’s better if I don’t take money from my parents. It’s hard for my mom to keep her opinions to herself if she’s footing the bills.”

  “I understand,” Jim said. “Far too well. But by the time your child is ready to graduate from college, you don’t have much control.”

  “You don’t know my mom very well,” she deadpanned. “I’ll be fine. I just have to find a job that pays well, gives me unlimited vacation, and requires no experience.”

  “Sorry, but I got that job,” Jim said, laughing as hard as Mia did.

  The group spent the next hour and a half chatting more than watching the game. Since Ryan didn’t play and the game lacked offense there wasn’t much happening on the field to hold their attention. “Who wants to go out to dinner?” Jim asked. “I should treat since my team won.”

  “I’m not gonna tell Ryan you were openly rooting for Stanford,” Jamie said, frowning.

  “She’ll understand,” he predicted. “Years from now she’ll be a Cal fan, no matter what.”

  “Probably true,” she said. “Well, we were planning on having dinner here,” Jamie said. “Mia?”

  “Sure. I have plans, but not for hours.”

  “We should have a party,” Jim said. “It’s not often I get home. What do you fellas say?”

  “We can make it,” Conor said, not even giving Rory a vote.

  “Catherine?” Jim asked.

  “I’d love to.”

  “Where should we go, Cat? Anyplace you know of that can seat a big group?”

  “I know just the place. It’s in Hillsborough, and the chef is always ready to get to work.”

  Even though Catherine offered, Ryan didn’t invite her teammates to the house. She knew Marta loved to cook, but she couldn’t imagine anyone loved having twenty-five unexpected guests show up. Jamie called Marta and offered to stop at the grocery store to buy whatever she needed to feed the crowd. By the time they arrived at the house, Rory and Conor were sitting by the pool, sipping cool drinks and listening to Jim talk about something that obviously interested them.

  Jamie looked out the door of the kitchen, then commented to her mother, “Dad’s charming the boys, eh?”

  “He seems to be.” She leaned over and whispered, “He was doing his best with me this afternoon, too. That always makes me suspicious.”

  Turning, Jamie tried to put her arm around Catherine, then realized it was her left, which had no flexibility. She laughed and moved to her other side, giving her mother a hug. “He was very nice to me at dinner the other night. He seemed different somehow.”

  “Mmm … not to me. He was his same old charming self, the persona that was always able to talk me into nearly anything.”

  Jamie looked at her mother with a grimace. “That might be bordering on too much information.”

  “Oh! No! I didn’t mean anything racy, dear. I’m not that insensitive.”

  “Aw, y
ou’re not insensitive at all.” Jamie faced her and gave her a long, warm hug. “You’re as sensitive a person as I’ve ever known. You and Ryan are very similar in that way. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I was attracted to her.”

  Pulling back, Catherine stared at her daughter, obviously surprised. “If there’s even a kernel of truth in that, I’m enormously pleased.”

  “Much more than a kernel, Mom. I’m just sorry I’ve been so grouchy these last few weeks. You’ve been wonderful—taking care of me and getting me in to see a good doctor. I truly appreciate it.”

  Catherine kissed her gently. “You may be an adult, but you’re still my sweet little baby in here.” She tapped her chest over her heart. “I’ll always try to be there for you.”

  Mia was hovering around Marta, sneaking a bite of food every time the cook turned her back. “Are you doing anything interesting tonight, Mia?” Catherine asked.

  “I think we’re going out clubbing. Probably in the city.”

  “Did you bring another outfit?” Jamie asked. “Or are you going to wear what you have on?”

  “No, I didn’t think to bring anything. I’ve gotta go home and change. I’ve gotta look good to get into the coolest places.”

  “Come up to my room,” Jamie said. “I’ve got some dresses here that you might like.”

  “Let’s go! I’d love not to have to go to Berkeley first.”

  They left the room, leaving Catherine smiling at Marta. “It seems like yesterday when they were riding their bikes to visit each other, doesn’t it?”

  “It does.” Marta reached up and wiped away the tears that threatened to slip from her eyes. “The time has gone so fast. They seemed so young then … and now …” She shook her head and turned away, wiping at her eyes again.

  Catherine moved to stand behind Marta and tentatively hugged her. “She’s not our little girl any more.”

  “No,” Marta sniffed. “She’s a woman now with her own life. But I miss her.” She turned and grasped Catherine, crying against her shoulder. “I don’t know why I’m so emotional. Then change of life makes me act like a different person.” She pulled away and composed herself while letting out an embarrassed laugh. “I act like she’s my daughter.”

  Catherine touched her cheek, looking into her eyes. “She’s both of ours. She wouldn’t be the woman she is without your influence, Marta.”

  “You’re her mother,” Marta said, her gaze intent. “I’m just lucky I was here to watch her grow up. You make me feel like I’ve done an important job and that means so very much to me.”

  “You have done an important job. Very important.”

  Marta turned Catherine around and gently pushed her towards the back door. “Now go visit your guests and let me do it!”

  Ryan sat by the edge of the pool, dangling her feet in the water.

  “I’m disappointed I didn’t get to see you play, Ryan,” Jim said.

  “I’m the secret weapon,” she said. “So secret that even Coach Roberts forgets about me. But I love being outside and getting free sunflower seeds … so I don’t mind.”

  “Ryan would join any club that gave her free food,” Rory teased.

  “Depends on the food,” she said. “I really love sunflower seeds.”

  “Tell me about this math competition,” Jim said. “I’d never heard of it.”

  “Nobody has,” she admitted. “Nobody who’s not into math, that is. For college students, it’s the biggest math competition in the country. It’s been going on for years.”

  “Jamie said it was an all-day thing. Is it like the SATs?”

  “No, not really. There are only twelve questions.”

  “Twelve?” Conor asked. “I didn’t know that!”

  “Yep. Only twelve.”

  “How do they pick a winner? Don’t most people get ’em right”

  “Ahh … no.” She smiled. “You get up to ten points for each question. So even if you get the wrong answer, you can get points. It’s hard to get more than five or six points for a question.”

  “Oh, come on,” Conor said. “You’re a genius!”

  “Right. Well, your genius sister got a fifty-eight.”

  “Fifty-eight?” Both Conor and Rory looked surprised. Rory said, “But you got an award, right?”

  “Right.”

  “’Cause you’re the girl with the highest score?” Conor asked.

  “I got a $1,000 for that, but I don’t think they should even have that award. It’s not like we have to solve problems while carrying bags of cement on our shoulders. Women’s brains are just as adept at math as men’s.”

  “How did you do against everyone?” Jim asked.

  “I came in twenty-fifth.” Ryan smiled. ‘Now that I’m proud of. Even though that only merits a measly $250.”

  “People obviously don’t take this test for the money,” Jim said.

  “No, it’s all for bragging rights. They publish the top 150 scores and the solutions in American Mathematical Monthly, and that’s an honor.”

  “How many guys got 120?” Conor asked.

  “None,” Ryan said. “I’m telling you, Conor, it’s hard. The top score was 74.”

  “That’s a ‘D’!”

  “I know. But I got an ‘F’ and I came in twenty-fifth! I’m sure there were a lot of people who got zero.”

  Rory raised his hand. “I would have been one of them.”

  “I bet I could have gotten a five or a six,” Conor said, grinning at his sister.

  “I’ll let you take the test,” Ryan said. “The solution’s in the magazine. If you get more than a two, I’ll give you the $1,000 I got for being the top woman.”

  Scowling, Conor said, “No thanks. You wouldn’t make that kinda deal if there was a chance in hell I could do it. Prying a thou out of your hands is like trying to get Heidi Klum’s phone number.”

  “I could have the INS look it up for you,” Jim said. “She’s a foreign national.”

  “Good lord,” Ryan said, getting up and going into the house for a refill. “With Conor’s mind and your connections—the federal pen isn’t too far off!”

  Assembling in the living room when it got too chilly outside, the guests sipped cocktails and shared jokes and stories, the scene reminding Ryan of parties at her own home. The difference between this gathering and the first one she’d attended at the Evans house was stuck in her mind when Jim asked, “How are your plans for the future shaping up, Ryan? The last time we talked, you were considering applying to every graduate program except astronomy, weren’t you?”

  She nodded, thinking of how he’d used her plans to make her feel insignificant and greedy.

  “Tell Daddy what you’re thinking of now, honey,” Jamie prompted when it became clear Ryan wasn’t going to elaborate.

  “Oh.” She tried to snap out of her reverie. “I’m a long way from making up my mind, but if I stick with biology, I’m thinking of sociogenomics.”

  “That’s a new one for me,” Catherine said. “It sounds like a cross between sociology and economics.”

  “It’s not, but it does kinda sound like that. It’s a term for a pretty new area of study. It’s … kinda … complicated, but in short—it’s the study of how genes affect the behavior of humans and how social forces can affect a gene.”

  “Sounds fascinating,” Mia said, yawning dramatically.

  Ryan scratched her cheek with her middle finger, making Jim laugh out loud. “I did that when I was in grade school!” he said.

  “That’s Ryan’s emotional age,” Jamie said fondly. “The math and science parts are overly developed—leaving precious little room for anything else. She’s brain-bound.”

  “This clearly isn’t my field, but I’m very interested, Ryan,” Catherine said. “I’m a little shaky on exactly what a gene is, but I know it’s the main thing you study in biology, correct?”

  “Absolutely correct!” Ryan said, smiling. “I’m a biology major, but it’s hard for me to find anyth
ing in biology alone that interests me enough to spend my life studying it. But it’s hard to branch out and not bang your head against a wall. I’d like to be a biophysicist if I work in research, but even that isn’t everything I’m interested in.”

  Jamie put her hand about a foot away from her head. “Big, big, brain.”

  “Help your poor brother out,” Rory said. “What’s a biophysicist?”

  “Uhm … let me see how to explain this without using too much jargon.” She considered the topic for a few moments, then said, “It’s the merger of biology, chemistry, and physics. That doesn’t sound like a new thing, but it kinda is. Even though it’s obvious to anyone who thinks about it that there aren’t borders around the different systems of the body—biologists tend to study only genes and their infrastructure of cells and receptors and proteins and the complex systems they produce.”

  “Yeah, only an idiot wouldn’t understand that,” Mia said, batting her eyes.

  “I’m interested,” Rory said, staring at Ryan’s mouth as if that would make her explanation more understandable.

  “Well, chemists study the microscopic products those cellular systems put out. Those systems produce microscopic interaction … commerce really, between those molecular products. And physicists study the behavioral psychology of the forces and particles that are kinda the mechanics of that commerce.” She looked puzzled. “I don’t know why people think biophysics is a fad. It just seems obvious to me.”

  “Oh, me too,” Mia said solemnly. “Plain as day.”

  “Did you understand that?” Jim asked, stunned.

  “Not a word. But she shuts up faster if you act like you agree with her.”

  “Hey!” Ryan said. “Rory asked!”

  “I tracked a little bit,” Catherine said. “But did you ever say what a gene was? I got a little lost.”

  “Oh. Sorry. Maybe I didn’t. A gene is the string of molecules,” she spoke slowly and watched Catherine’s face to make sure she understood, “…which build cells, which then assemble into organs...”