Megan

Megan becomes a sharp point of friction in Brett Bohlinger’s life after Brett finds her at Andrew’s loft. Seen first through Brett’s anxious, hidden perspective and later heard in a combative phone call, Megan is associated with both Andrew’s new intimacy and the unresolved anger surrounding Brett’s departure from their shared home. Their confrontation makes jealousy, old grievances, and Brett’s attempt to judge Megan collide in a single exchange.

Introduction and First Appearance

Megan’s first appearance in this evidence is indirect. Brett is in Andrew’s kitchen, pressed against the wall beside the refrigerator, when she hears a woman speaking; Brett cannot make out the words. Andrew offers to take the woman’s coat, tells her that he likes having her there because she brightens the place, and pours drinks. From the kitchen’s darkness, Brett watches Andrew chase Megan upstairs with a bottle of Glenlivet and two glasses. The sequence identifies Megan through Brett’s discovery rather than through Megan’s own perspective: the reader shares Brett’s limited hearing, alarm, and concealment.

The scene’s small details make the encounter painful without establishing more than it shows. Megan giggles; Brett gasps and covers her mouth to keep from crying out. Brett fears that stepping into view will make her look as though she has been spying, but staying hidden risks making her seem like Andrew’s stalker ex-girlfriend. The contrast between Megan’s audible ease with Andrew and Brett’s fear of being discovered gives the scene its tension. Megan is not shown noticing Brett, and the encounter offers no account of what Megan knows about Brett’s presence.

The Phone Call and the Earlier Encounter

By the following Friday, the loft scene has changed Brett’s relationship with Megan. As Brett is turning out the lights in her office, Megan calls. Brett has ignored Megan’s calls and messages since seeing her at Andrew’s, and she nearly puts the phone away before deciding to answer. Megan opens in a familiar, teasing register, calling her “chica” and saying that Shelley told her Brett is getting a dog. The ease of that greeting sits against Brett’s deliberate withdrawal: Megan is making ordinary conversation, while Brett has already attached the call to the hurt of what she witnessed.

Brett soon makes that connection explicit, asking how Megan could do this to her and identifying Andrew as the issue. Megan answers that Brett and Andrew are no longer together. She adds that, while they were together, she never so much as peeked at his package. The crude joke is a pointed defense, but it does not resolve Brett’s sense of betrayal; instead, it shows the two women arguing from different accounts of what the past relationship entitles Brett to expect. Megan invokes the breakup as a boundary, while Brett treats Megan’s closeness with Andrew as a personal injury.

Furniture, Resentment, and Retaliation

The call also exposes a separate grievance between them. Megan says she cannot believe Brett took all of Andrew’s furniture, reports that Andrew was furious, and says he threatened to have Brett arrested for home invasion after Brett refused his calls. These details establish the consequences of Brett’s move-out as Megan describes them, not as an independent account of Andrew’s response. Her complaint shifts the quarrel from Brett’s jealousy to her conduct after leaving the loft; the earlier encounter and the dispute over the furniture become linked in one argument.

Brett briefly considers whether she has the right to judge Megan. She recalls her own former attachment to designer clothes, a BMW, expensive purses, and jewelry, and compares her past selfishness toward Carrie with Carrie’s eventual forgiveness. Brett considers extending similar generosity to Megan, addressing her as “Meggie girl” and urging her to seek someone who adores and treats her well. But Megan rejects the advice as phony and says she understands that Brett is jealous, adding, “He. Doesn’t. Love. You!” Brett describes the words as knocking the wind from her. The attempted gesture of forgiveness collapses into renewed injury, revealing how little emotional distance Brett has gained from Andrew.

Characterization and Narrative Role

Megan’s characterization in these scenes is necessarily filtered through Brett, who is both witness and participant in the conflict. The first encounter gives Megan gestures and sounds—her laughter, her movement upstairs with Andrew—rather than private thoughts. The later call supplies her claims and insults, but not an account from her point of view that would settle the dispute. The result is a portrait shaped by contrast: Megan’s apparent comfort at the loft against Brett’s hidden distress, and Megan’s blunt rejection of Brett’s concern against Brett’s short-lived attempt to take the higher ground.

The call ends with Brett abandoning her conciliatory advice. She agrees that Megan and Andrew are perfect for each other, gets into her car, and tells Megan to stop worrying about her short arms because they are the least of her problems. The parting insult replaces the generosity Brett had just contemplated with retaliation. Megan’s narrative importance lies in that reversal: her confrontation forces Brett to hear the separation stated plainly, while Brett’s response shows that the break with Andrew remains an active wound rather than a settled past.