Brett Bohlinger–Megan

Brett Bohlinger and Megan share a friendship built on quick intervention, teasing candor, and practical help, but its limits become clear when Megan becomes involved with Andrew after Brett’s relationship with him ends. Megan is among Brett’s first confidantes when Brett loses her job and confronts the demands of her mother’s life list; she also helps Brett take a step toward Carrie. Later, however, Brett sees Megan at Andrew’s loft, withdraws from her, and eventually faces her in a phone call that turns an offer of help into an argument. Their bond moves from energetic support to silence and accusation, with no account here of a reconciliation.

Friendship and Early History

Brett and Megan meet through Shelley’s younger sister, Patti, after Patti and Megan had been roommates in Dallas. The two had trained to become flight attendants with American Airlines, but Megan could not reach a bag lodged in the back of an overhead bin. The failure became a source of lasting self-consciousness about her short arms; she left for Chicago and turned to real estate instead. She met Jimmy Northrup during her first sale. By the time Brett and Shelley call her, Megan has a hobby job as a realtor and is practically engaged to Jimmy, a Chicago Bears defensive end, so she does not depend on commissions for income.

The friendship is introduced through a crisis and the easy familiarity of a shared gathering place. After Catherine fires Brett, Brett and Shelley call Megan on their way to The Bourgeois Pig Café, where Megan is already waiting. The café is their favorite non-alcohol spot, a cozy, book-filled meeting place where background conversation offers a sense of privacy. Megan initially has her attention on her iPad, but Shelley tells her that Brett needs help. Megan puts the device aside, folds her hands, and gives Brett the floor. The small shift from distraction to focused attention defines an important part of their friendship: Megan can be self-absorbed, but she can also listen intently when a friend’s troubles become the subject.

Candor and Practical Support

Brett tells Megan that she has no income or job and must complete ten goals within a year. Megan reacts with anger on Brett’s behalf, reads the list’s most startling demands, and questions what Brett’s mother could have intended by assigning them. Her response is not a measured plan; it is immediate, outspoken solidarity. The contrast between Brett’s anxiety and Megan’s unvarnished reaction gives Brett room to describe the predicament without first defending why it is upsetting.

That support takes a more challenging form when Megan later finds Brett at The Bourgeois Pig with a crossword puzzle. Megan points out that Brett has done little since her first comedy performance, has not told Andrew about the list, and is using delay to avoid acting on her mother’s wishes. She says Brett may be afraid of damaging Andrew’s life rather than her own. The observation unsettles Brett because it identifies a conflict she has been reluctant to name: her fear of losing her boyfriend is interfering with the goals she has been asked to pursue. Megan then takes over Brett’s laptop and sends Carrie a Facebook friend request despite Brett’s protests. The act is intrusive, and Brett fears it will remind Carrie of the friend who betrayed her, but it also converts the idea of reconnecting into a concrete action.

Their exchanges can reverse the direction of care. When Megan says she cannot confront a man until she has another option, Brett recognizes that Megan fears having no one to rely on. Brett tells her that she is intelligent and can manage on her own, words that Brett herself wonders may also be meant for her. She encourages Megan to put herself out there and consider online dating. The scene links their troubles without making them identical: Megan’s reluctance to leave a relationship and Brett’s fear of losing one both bring dependence and self-trust into their conversations.

The Break in Trust

The sharpest breach comes after Brett and Andrew’s relationship has ended. Brett returns to Andrew’s home to take her belongings and decides to leave the remaining household goods as a peace offering. When Andrew arrives with a woman, Brett hides in the kitchen rather than reveal that she is there. From the darkness, she watches Andrew lead Megan upstairs carrying a bottle of Glenlivet and two glasses. The scene makes Megan’s presence more than a rumor: Brett sees her entering the private space she had associated with Andrew, and the sight alters how safe the friendship feels.

Brett responds by ignoring Megan’s calls and messages. The silence lasts until Megan calls on the day Brett plans to get a dog. She offers Champ, a purebred greyhound described as a show dog, through a client who is buying a condominium on Lake Shore Drive and cannot keep a pet because the building prohibits animals. The offer connects Megan’s work as a realtor to Brett’s goal of getting a dog, and it appears, on its face, to be a generous practical gesture. Brett refuses. The refusal is followed not by a discussion of Champ but by the unresolved hurt between the women.

Confrontation and Unsettled Aftermath

Megan asks why Brett is angry and insists that she and Andrew are no longer together, adding that she had not looked at him sexually while he and Brett were a couple. Brett’s bitter response makes clear that she regards Megan’s behavior as a betrayal of friendship, regardless of the technical boundary Megan invokes. Megan, in turn, brings up Brett’s departure from Andrew’s loft: she says Brett took all of his furniture, ignored his calls, and left him furious enough to threaten a home-invasion arrest. Brett disputes that version, saying she took only what belonged to her. Megan says she calmed Andrew down by pointing out that he could afford replacement furniture.

The call also reveals how little either woman trusts the other’s reading of the situation. Megan recounts that Andrew sat silently when a waiter brought their check, then jokes about his money and about the impression that she is wealthy because she is a successful Chicago realtor. Brett is already tempted to judge Megan as shallow, but catches herself by recalling her own former attachment to designer clothes, a BMW, expensive purses, and jewelry. She also remembers that Carrie forgave her after Brett had abandoned her when she needed a friend. That memory briefly leads Brett to consider paying such forgiveness forward to Megan, and she starts to urge Megan to expect more from a partner.

Megan cuts off the appeal by accusing Brett of jealousy and saying Andrew does not love her. Brett’s impulse to extend the understanding she received from Carrie collapses under the force of the insult. She tells Megan that she and Andrew are well suited to each other and ends the exchange with a cutting reference to Megan’s short arms, the insecurity dating back to her failed flight-attendant training. The remark turns a remembered vulnerability into a weapon. The relationship’s final presented state is therefore not simple estrangement or settled reconciliation, but a painful confrontation in which both women use intimate knowledge against the other. Megan’s earlier ability to listen and act for Brett remains part of their history, yet the call shows that those acts have not prevented resentment from hardening into distrust.