“I didn’t say—”
“Didn’t have to,” she cut in. “I haven’t seen you this tense since what’s-her-face from elementary school.”
Cameron. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Uh-huh, just like you don’t see what’s right in front of you. You couldn’t stop talking about Sam on Thanksgiving when Mom and Brad weren’t around, but you haven’t even introduced her to us yet.”
Sighing, I said, “Can we please not make a big deal out of this? I really like her.” And I’d rather not scare her away with
our formal initiation. The last thing Sam needed was a thousand questions thrown her way.
“Duh.” There was that smug grin again. “You wouldn’t have brought her home if you didn’t like her, even with Mom’s look. Sit with us. Let her soak in some of our culture.”
“More like leave her to the sharks with twenty-thousand questions and a side of innuendos. Thanks, but I’ll pass.”
“She’ll have to go through it eventually,” Katie said matter-of-factly.
“Only if you guys don’t scare her away.” The questions my family came up with were insane.
“On New Years, then. You have one week to deliver your sacrifice.” Katie waited a moment for me to smile, then continued. “It won’t be that bad, I promise.”
“Maybe not from you, but Uncle Joe?” He was notoriously bad at these things.
“Wait until he falls asleep,” she simply said, giving my shoulder a squeeze before getting up to gather her kids.
I managed a small smile and watched her go. It wasn’t long until Sam joined me again, sitting down as she spoke.
“What was that all about?” she asked, looking back the way my sister had gone.
“She was making an observation.”
“A good one I hope.”
A very good one. “It was. What about you? You bailed on me.”
“Your uncle cornered me in the kitchen. Nice guy.”
Oh no. I hated to ask. “Did he happen to bombard you with a bunch of questions?”
“He did,” she said with a nod, “but it was easy to stop.”
Okay, I had to hear this. “What did you say?”
She spoke in a voice so low, I almost didn’t hear her. “That we’re swingers, you like getting tied to the bed, and we may
have a meth lab back at school.”
Oh. My. God. I was amused and mortified. “And?”
“And what? He turned all sorts of colors, mumbled something under his breath, then made a hasty retreat into the living room. Last I saw him, he turned on the television and put the volume up as high as it could go.”
I laughed at that. “That’s genius.”
“I’m used to the twenty questions bit,” she said as she broke into one final biscuit. “My ex’s dad was in the armed forces, so when we finally met, he sat me down in a room with just the two of us and interrogated me. Your uncle is a pussy-cat compared to him.”
“I can’t imagine. I’ve never had to face a family like mine.
The first girl I lusted after was in the sixth grade, so it was more of a crush. Once we entered high school, it was pretty easy to avoid most family dinners. She went to one local school and I went to the other. As for my more recent conquests, they’re too short-lived to actually come home with me.”