“Is everything okay?” Karen asked me, concern marking her face. I wasn't sure what she had seen. Maybe she saw the tears in my eyes, or maybe my face was flushed red. It certainly felt like it was burning with embarrassment. I felt like I was a fool for being at the dinner, the same dinner that Katie was enjoying with her family. It really made me wonder. How had the two of them never gotten together if she had been tight with the family for so long? How had they not even hooked up? Maybe they had hooked up and Jet just never told me? Calm down, I kept telling myself, just calm down. I was letting my thoughts run away with me, and it wasn't a very good idea.
I was aware that Karen was still looking at me, so I took a deep breath and turned away from Jet and Katie. “Yes of course, I'm sorry. I just feel a little warm in here. Is there somewhere I can hang my jacket?”
“Oh, of course. Let me take it.” I slipped off my jacket and handed it to her. She went down the hall to hang it up in the side closet. I turned back around to see where Jet was, and he was saying hello to Katie's parents before he made his way back to my side. He kissed me on the cheek and smiled. The smile didn't last long, however, as I glared at him as discreetly as I could.
“What's wrong?”
“Are you serious right now? Did you forget to tell me something?” I was whispering, or more like hissing at him, but I didn't want to alert the others to our conversation.
“Natalie, what's wrong? I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“What the hell is Katie doing here? She's practically family? Is this real life?”
He shot a glance over at Katie, and then looked back at me, looking rather stupid.
“Oh my God, Natalie, I'm sorry. I may actually be the stupidest guy alive. I quite literally didn't even think about her. And that should tell you something. Sometimes they come, and sometimes they don't, I had no idea whether she would be here or not. And to be honest, it never even occurred to me until now.”
He looked genuinely sorry, and I had to consider the fact that I might just be losing my mind. It probably was just an innocent little mix-up, and I should cut him a little slack. It wasn't the end of the world, as long as Katie kept her claws out of Jet for the evening. I didn't have the patience for her at all.
“Come on, everyone, let’s gather in the kitchen and have some dinner.” His mother waved for everyone to follow her into the kitchen. I took Jet's hand and smiled up at him to let him know everything was okay.
We all gathered around the table and found seats. I was happy to see that Katie and her family were not sitting directly across from us at the table. Dinner was a bit overwhelming. I had Jet's family asking me all kinds of questions about myself, which normally wouldn’t be too bad, except Katie seemed to watch me intently as I answered them. Everyone, however, seemed to be in good spirits, and dinner went by without a hitch. The meal itself was incredible. There was far too much food on the table for the amount of people that were there. It was way too much; I was sure a whole village of people could have fed off of the meal. There were three types of meat: duck, turkey, and ham. There were mashed potatoes and gravy along with various kinds of vegetables. That was just dinner; dessert consisted of pies of almost every kind, and a seven-layer chocolate cake. I worried that I was going to have to be rolled out of there. I had eaten so much food just to be polite, and I worried that Jet would have to get a crane to haul me out of there for the evening.
When dinner was over, we all retired for the evening to the sitting room. Everyone engaged in their own conversations, and Jet came over with a deck of cards and suggested we play.
“Well, aren't you a glutton for punishment. Haven't you learned your lesson by now?”
“I can't help it. I feel like I should win at something here.”
I giggled. “Would it help if I let you win?”
“No! I want an honest win. What do you say to some Rummy 500?”
I laughed. “Sure, sounds good.”
We played five games total, and I won every one of them. He fought some hard rounds, but in the end, I prevailed. It was actually hilarious how frustrated he became.
“Baby, how on earth do you keep kicking my ass at everything? It's rather heartbreaking, actually.”
“I know. I actually did consider letting you win to help you save face, but in the end I thought I would just bring you down.”
He laughed. Karen walked over and stood beside where Jet was sitting.
“What are you guys doing?” she asked.
“Well, we were playing cards but Natalie has been kicking my butt. She always does, actually, it's kind of embarrassing. She's like a card shark, and I can't quite figure out how she does it.”
I laughed. “It's really not that dramatic. My dad just taught me a lot of stuff.”
Karen laughed. “Don't be a spoilsport there, Jet; you can't win them all.”
“Well, why not?”
We all laughed, and Jet got up from the chair he was sitting in. “Well I have to hit the little boys’ room. I will be right back, Natalie. I will leave you in the care of my lovely sister.”
Karen sat down in the seat that Jet vacated and smiled at me warmly. I really liked his sister. She seemed sweet. I was just about to engage in a conversation with Karen, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katie get up from her seat. It wouldn't have seemed unusual, except for the fact that she went the same way that Jet had gone. I sat there for a few minutes, wondering what I should do. I wanted to be able to trust Jet, and I was sure the two of them going down the hallway had just been a coincidence. But something was nagging at me to go find Jet.
“Natalie, are you sure you're okay?”