Heather jumped and turned toward us, her face pale. “No,” she said, backing up a step. “No, I’m not hungry.” She let out a breath of air like she was blowing out a candle. “Thanks, though. It’s good to see you back home,” Heather said to me, trying and failing to smile. “It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, how’s your house? Almost finished?” I asked as Mark lifted two plates and started filling them with food.
“Pretty much,” Heather said, rolling her eyes. “Just cosmetic stuff left. Tommy insists on doing everything with cash, so we’re still missing some trim and shit like that.”
“That’s awesome. I know you guys have been working on it forever.”
“You should come see it while you’re here,” she said, exhaling through her lips again. “We’ll have dinner or something.”
“Sounds good—”
“Sorry,” she blurted, cutting me off as she strode quickly out of the room.
“Congratulations,” I said under my breath as I turned toward Mark.
“Not so bad, right?” he asked, glancing at me. “But she must’ve had a rough night.” He laughed.
I shook my head. “Pregnant,” I said quietly.
“Really?” he looked in the direction Heather had gone. “How could you tell?”
“I know the signs,” I replied dryly, grabbing us some silverware. “She didn’t even mention Olive, and everyone coos at babies unless they’re deliberately trying not to. Plus, if it was a hangover, she’d look haggard and be drinking a Bloody Mary. Hair of the dog, and all that.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said. “You want fruit?”
“Yes, please,” I replied. “I wonder if Tommy knows?”
“If he did, everyone would,” Mark said in amusement. “He’d be shouting it from the rooftops.”
“Or he’d be the one puking,” I joked.
“Yeah, I can see that.” He grabbed our plates and turned toward the tables. “Where you wanna sit?”
Turning with him, I took a deep breath. My brother and Trix were sitting on a couch in the corner with Will and Molly on the opposite couch and as I watched, Tommy crawled over the back of Will and Molly’s couch and planted himself between them. Poet was making the rounds, carrying a cup of coffee. Amy sat at a table with Dragon, Brenna, and my Aunt Callie sitting on my Uncle Grease’s lap. My parents were sitting with Lily, Leo, and Leo’s son. I swallowed hard as I scanned the rest of the room full of people, jumping over Rose’s table without looking too closely.
“Come on,” Mark said when I didn’t answer.
I followed him to one of the closest tables, sitting down next to Lu.
“You’ve been hangin’ with me for weeks,” she said in surprise. “Don’t you want to—” she gestured to the rest of the room.
“Not especially,” I said under my breath. I looked up as Mark set my plate in front of me. “Thank you,” I said, tipping my head back to meet his eyes. He gave the back of my neck a squeeze and rounded the table.
“This is so much better than continental breakfast,” Ephraim said, digging into his food. He looked up and grinned. “Good to see you guys in one piece.”
“Thanks for driving my stuff up,” I replied, looking from him to Josiah.
“No problem,” Josiah replied for both of them, big hands wrapped around a cup of coffee. He sniffed it appreciatively. “Worth it for this right here.”
“Right?” Forrest said, nodding. “I need to see who made it and what they put in it.”
“Cinnamon?” Josiah asked.
“Could be,” Forrest replied, lifting his own cup to take a drink.
“Girl,” Lu said, dragging the word out as she looked at me. “You brought your A-game today.”
“What?” I asked, shaking off the feeling of someone watching me. They probably were. So what?
“Makeup,” Lu said. “Looks good.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“You put on makeup?” Eli asked, tilting his head as he stared at me. “Why?”
“Why’d you put all that product in your hair?” Lu snapped back. “Mind your business.”
“I don’t have product in my hair,” Eli said in confusion as Lu turned back to me.
“The guy could tell you every bra size in this room,” she said to me, shaking her head. “But the subtleties of makeup are lost on him.” Lu bumped her shoulder against mine. “Families are hard, man,” she said. “Especially ones that are this big.”
“Not all of them are family,” I said as I adjusted the way I was holding Olive so I could eat. “I barely know some of them.”
“Like four of them aren’t family,” she joked. “Your family tree’s a spiderweb with this club at the center.”
“You’re not wrong,” I replied, as I forced myself to take a bite. I should’ve spoken to Lily before I sat down to eat, now I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else until I did. Ripping off the Band-Aid would be a lot less painful all at once, and I was more aware than anyone how awkward it was that I hadn’t said hello to everyone.