“Let’s get some food in your belly!” David grabbed for my hand and dragged me through the kitchen. Like father, like son. I looked back to Greg, who was following us, and couldn’t help but smile. I felt so free here and regretted instantly for not coming here for over a year. “We missed you.”
“I missed you guys, too.” David pulled out a chair for me at the dining room table where there were five other place settings besides mine. “Y’all didn’t eat?”
I looked at everyone as they all took their respective seats. I always got to sit by David with Greg to my right.
“Greg told us you two were on your way, so we waited until you both got here to dig in.” Margaret picked up a plate of mac and cheese and started to pass it around. We were all quiet as we gathered the food onto our plates, but Jack was the first to break the silence.
“Y’all got back late from Vegas last week. Have a little too much fun?” I snapped a scorned look over to Greg as he shot daggers at Jack.
“I thought everyone got back late last Wednesday, Greg?” Margaret had set down her fork and reached for her wine glass that was filled to the brim. “That’s what you told me when you and Jack couldn’t come to dinner.”
Greg straightened himself in the seat and I tried to piece together what his mother was saying. Greg had told her that he and Jack couldn’t come to family dinner last Wednesday because they would be just getting in from Vegas, but Jack hadn’t stayed behind with us. But now Jack was bringing up the fact that we came back late without him. I sat there a little confused as Greg tried to wrap everything up so that it made sense.
He avoided my gaze as he answered his mother.
“We took a later flight out than everyone else since the plane was booked and then we got delayed a little longer than planned.” Greg scooped a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. “Jack is just being an asshole. Causing trouble, as always.”
“Six hours is quite some time to be delayed.” Jack threw a wink my way, but I didn’t want to play along. I had no idea what his agenda was, but all I wanted to do was steer this conversation in a new direction.
“My parents are coming home next week.” My response stopped the whole room. It wasn’t true. I had no idea where they actually were. They could have been home now for all I knew. I just needed to change the topic. Greg had his mouth open, about to yell at Jack, I’m sure. Margaret continued to gulp her wine and David gave me a sympathetic look. Delilah was the first to speak up, though.
“Do you need me to kidnap you?” I laughed at her too-true question.
“If only it were that easy.” I waved her off and dug into my plate, letting my statement hang in the air.
“We could stage your death.” Jack pointed his fork at me after taking the bite of chicken from it. “Plan a whole funeral where we have clowns celebrate your life.”
“Oh! How did you know that was what I’ve always wanted?!” I faked enthusiasm towards Jack and felt Greg’s hand squeeze my thigh. I reached for it, intending to move it, but the moment my hand touched his, I clung to it. Our fingers intertwined and I silently thanked him for making sure I was okay, even though he didn’t know what I said was fake.
“I need more wine if we are going to talk about your parents.” Margaret got up quickly from her seat. The full glass of wine she had had was completely empty now. It wasn’t that she was a lush, but that she loved the taste and the alcohol never really affected her.
“I’ll help, love.” David followed her into the kitchen. I loved watching them together. They haven’t been separated for the past 35 years and I don’t think anything was going to separate them now. Not even a bottle of wine.
“So, when are you going to tell mom and dad?!” Delilah was practically jumping out of her seat when she directed her question towards Greg and me.
“Tell them what?” I played dumb, hoping that Greg hadn’t also told Delilah about us getting married, but I knew in my heart that he already had.
“About you two silly!” She pointed towards where our hands were still holding on to each other under the table and I yanked my hand out of Greg’s grasp.
“Not sure what you’re talking about, Delilah.”
“Oh, don’t play coy with me. I know things.” She wiggled her eyebrows and looked back and forth between Greg and Jack.
“You told both of them?!” I tried to yell at Greg in a hushed tone, but it wasn’t working. I lowered my voice some more. “Who the hell else knows?”
“He told us right after it happened.” Jack piped up.
“What?!” I was screaming now.
“Jack!” Greg yelled at his brother and threw a bread roll across the table, sadly missing Jack’s head.
I heard feet running towards the dining room as David rushing out of the kitchen.
“What’s wrong?” He looked panicked, but Margaret came up behind him, placed a kiss on his cheek and took a swig of wine straight from the bottle that had already been popped open.
“Jack just told Lilly that he thought her favorite restaurant, Bakers, was closing.” Greg came up with an excuse first. I was too busy looking at Greg’s parents to notice that he was inching towards me. His hand slid back onto my thigh, this time snaking back and forth along it, sending a tingling down my leg. “He’s just teasing you.”
“Is he though? Or is he telling the truth?” I shot my question to Greg and he knew I wasn’t talking about his make believe scenario right now, but what Jack had just said previously.
“I’m sure it’s not that bad, you can always find a new place, right munchkin?” David tried to be reassuring, but it wasn’t working because he had no idea the true conversation that was about to transpire.
“I’m not sure if I can. It was pretty important to me. Some place that I liked to keep to myself.” I said my words through gritted teeth, my stare focused only on Greg.
“Wasn’t like you hadn’t brought Alexa and Erica there before.”
“Pretty sure Jack just told me you brought him and Delilah there first.” I spat my words at him with disdain. I may have told Erica and Alexa, but Greg had told his siblings right after it happened. Last week. He had kept that from me and I didn’t appreciate it.
“Fine.” Greg picked up his glass of water, took a sip, and then slammed it back down on the table. A little water jumped out of the glass and landed on the white tablecloth. I hoped that Margaret didn’t see or she would have a fit. She was keen on perfection. “We should have taken them together.”
“If they’re still open, why don’t you guys take Max and Chase. Pretty sure they would love a taste of their awesome sandwiches,” Jack interjected.
“Shut up Jack.” My voice collided with Greg’s as we yelled at him in unison.
Jack’s laugh filled the room as he popped a piece of chicken into his mouth and leaned back in his chair. He was loving this way too much. Delilah snickered next to him and shoved a spoonful of mac and cheese into her mouth.
“I don’t know why you all are so uptight about some damn sandwich shop.” I looked over to Margaret and had to hold back a laugh. She downed half the bottle of wine already and was pointing to the plates on the table. “There is perfectly good homemade food in front of us, so eat it.”
We did as she said and finished off our plates. None of us were speaking to each other, but the shade that was thrown across the table felt like daggers. I tried to make my way out of the awkward silence, but was pushed back down into my seat by David, as he and the guys cleaned the table, while us girls watched them remove everything with swift haste.
“Dessert in the living room?” Margaret didn’t wait for an answer as she removed herself from the dining room and made her way over to where the couches were aligned in a perfect square, with just enough space to get between them. “Honey, will you bring out the pie, please?”
Greg and Jack were already out of the kitchen, standing in the doorway. I could see the look of determination on their faces and I knew what they wanted. The big pillow. It was the coveted pillow for whoever had last won game night. I didn’t care, though. I wanted it.
“I call big pillow!” I jumped out of my seat and tried to make a mad dash for the living room. I heard footsteps following me at the same pace I was running. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it, but I damn well was going to try.
Just as I was about to dive for the pillow, arms wrapped around me and my back slammed into a chest. I was scooped up and a laugh escaped me, one that I couldn’t stop. Margaret’s eyes went wide from where she sat on the couch, as I looked up to see Greg smiling down at me.
“We can share.” I looked over to where Jack and Delilah had both taken their normal seats on the couch and could only assume one thing. Greg had won game night last. I was playing with fire and I didn’t care. For some reason, when I was in this house, with these people, I felt safe. It was like reality wasn’t a thing; we lived in this bubble. A bubble I was afraid was going to burst at any moment.
Greg maneuvered us so that when he sat down on the big purple pillow and he pulled me down onto his lap, we were both comfortable. Jack grabbed a game board from under the table and started to set it up.
“Your favorite.” Jack looked directly at me as he set up the oldest version of Life I had ever seen. I loved it, though. It was simple and just used cash, no little “money” chips or those credit-card contraptions, no. Pale colored cars and light pink and light blue pegs that were so thin that if you bent them and they would break. When looking at them, you would think those were their natural colors, but that wasn’t the case. Everything was faded and had an old musk scent to it that just made you think of how many game nights this board had gone through, how many family fights had ensued from this game.
David walked out of the kitchen with plates, forks, napkins, and a container that I knew carried the best damn apple pie I would ever eat. It was one of Margaret’s specialties and she always won the pie-baking contest here in town every year.
“No ice cream tonight.” My eyebrows raised in surprise at David’s comment. We always had ice cream with pie. “Someone decided to eat all of it today.”
He shot daggers in the direction of his wife, but I was more surprised when it was Delilah who answered his harsh statement.
“It was the only thing I could find to eat!” She huffed and slouched back into the couch, admitting defeat.
“Likely story.” Greg’s voice reverberated through me and it wasn’t until then that I remembered that I was sitting in his lap in front of his whole family. That his brother and sister both knew we were married and his parents had absolutely no idea what was going on. I tensed in his arms, and his hands went directly to my thighs, rubbing them up and down, trying to soothe me.
“Let’s get this game started!” Jack picked out his favorite color car, the red one, then it was Greg next who made sure to grab the green and baby blue one, green for him, baby blue for me. I tried to hide my smile from him, but I could see Delilah out of the corner of my eye watching us closely. In fact, when I looked up, everyone was watching us closely.
“Dad, you want to grab yours and Mom’s next?” Greg coughed to break the awkward stares, trying to get everyone to keep moving to get game night started.
“No problem. Jack, would you dish out the slices?” David moved into action, taking care of what Greg had asked him. We finished setting up the rest of the game with who got what as far as insurance and who wanted what for their cars. We were all set up on the board and each of us had a plate with pie in front of us. Now it really felt like family night.
The game lasted over two hours and, when I finally looked up at the clock, I realized it was one in the morning. I nudged Greg and then pointed to the clock.
“No worries. I already talked to Max.” My eyebrows squinted in question. If we were going to get up early enough to make it into work at a decent time, we needed to head to bed now. “The office can run itself. I wanted to make sure we were able to grab pickles for you before heading home.”
I was speechless. This man. He surprised me to no end and I hated it. He was considerate and romantic in ways that I never expected him to be and it made it that much harder to believe any of this was real. Because it wasn’t. That’s what I had to keep telling myself. I couldn’t get stuck in the fairy tale that was Greg. Fairy tales weren’t real.
“I mean, I don’t mind if we get back a little late, but I still have work that needs to get done.” I tried to push for us to still leave tomorrow morning, instead of the plan I knew he was brewing. The one where we stayed all day. The one I wanted so much to happen, but knew it shouldn’t.
“Nope.” He said it with a pop and left it at that, shoving the last bite of apple pie into his mouth.
“Maybe it’s time we all went to bed?” David raised the question to all of us. “We can clean up in the morning.”
He grabbed for Margaret’s hand and pulled her up from the couch and led her down the long hallway to their room. It was at the farthest point of the house, away from all of us kids.
“I think that sounds like a good idea.” Jack said. “I, unlike you two, will be up in 4 hours so I can get to work today.” Jack gave us a judging look, but I knew he was playing. “But in all honesty, Lilly, you do need a break.”
“Thanks for recognizing that, Jack.” Even though Jack and I got along only sometimes, it really was like he was my brother. He always took care of me and looked out for me.
“Of course, you need it, from having to take care of everything the last two days because someone decided to just take two days off, and now a third.” I could feel the tension between the brothers and I wanted no part of it. This was one of the times when their only similarities came out. They were both hot heads, but only to each other.
“And now we’re off to bed!” Delilah jumped up from the couch and grabbed Jack’s arm, dragging him to the opposite side of the house. It had an odd layout and while everyone else’s rooms were on the first floor, Greg’s was the only room on the second floor.
When Margaret set up the guest rooms for the kids, she made sure that there were only twin beds in the rooms and, when I started staying over more and more, she made sure a second twin bed was added to Greg’s room, so he didn’t have to sleep on the couch anymore.
I lifted myself off of Greg when I saw Jack and Delilah disappear down the hallway. I didn’t say a word, but held out my hand to help him up. He didn’t take it. He pushed himself up and made his way towards the kitchen without saying anything.
I huffed into the silent living room and made my way up the stairs that were near the front door to the studio-style loft. It had a bathroom off to the side, and I made sure to wash my face and brush my teeth with a new toothbrush that I knew Margaret always put there every three months. I tied my hair in a knot and stripped out of my clothes, tiptoeing back into the room, making sure not to step on the only four creaky floorboards in the loft. I was standing there in only my underwear and nothing else, rummaging through the dresser drawers against the far wall. I grabbed for the first shirt I found and pulled it on.
I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and I dashed over to the bed closest to the window. I hated sleeping by the stairs, because, even though I knew no one could get into this fortress of a house, it didn’t mean it didn’t scare the shit out of me to be so vulnerable.
I laid in bed on top of the covers and grabbed the throw blanket to wrap around myself. I heard one creak, then two, and after the third, I knew Greg was letting me know that he was headed towards the bed I was pretending to sleep in. He set down a glass on the table between the beds. I could hear the glass hit the solid wood before he moved to the other bed. I laid there, trying to even out my breaths into a deep sleep, but it was ruined.
“Psst.” I ignored him. “Psst.”
I started to count sheep in my head.
One.
Two.
Three.
“Wife.” Nope. Not having that.
“What?” Seething at Greg, I sat up and whipped my head around. A pillow hit my face the second I was turned toward him. I was so shocked that I didn’t know what else to say. I just sat there with the pillow in my lap and my mouth gaped open.
“You look gorgeous in my shirt.” The moonlight hit his face just right and the smirk on his face drew out the anger in me.
“Ugh.” I threw the pillow back at him, smacking him dead in the face. I turned over, grabbed one of the two pillows I still had and sandwiched my face between them, shutting out the world around me. I could hear Greg’s bellowed laugh fill the room, but I tried to shut it out, thinking of fingers tapping on glass, scratching on cardboard, or a brush on a mic.
Peace and quiet quickly consumed me in my thoughts, but the dreams I had weren’t all peaceful, especially when they were filled with only one person.
Greg.