“Hi Dad.” She bends to kiss him.
Robert smiles and gives her an affectionate look. My heart constricts at the interaction between them and I look away, feeling as if I'm intruding just being here. Their shared affection is something that is missing in my own family for so long that I no longer remember what that feels like. The moment we had moved away from Latimer, Mom had adopted the art of air-kissing, even behind closed doors, when her faux friends were not watching.
“Hello, Mitch,” Beth greets, her voice notably cold as she takes the chair opposite me, eyes not meeting mine.
I grip my spoon hard, hoping to the high heavens that this brunch does not turn into a tense affair.
“Hello, Beth,” I answer in the simplest of tones, smiling at Jenny who beams and takes the chair beside her daughter.
Dinner consists of creamed chipped beef on toast with tall glasses of juice. My mouth waters at the sight and I feel grateful that Jenny did invite me. I can't remember the last time I had something homemade.
“This looks great, Jenny.”
Beth's mother smiles at the compliment and ducks her head almost shyly as she offers her thanks, a move so similar to Beth's that I do a double-take, eyes moving to Beth's who is full-on glaring at me now. I stare right back at her, taking in the simple blue sundress she has on, slender arms exposed. I try not to remember those arms wrapped around my neck as I'd thrust into her that night. Good thing she looks like she wants my head on the plate set before her, which chips away the need to play footsies beneath her parents’ dinner table.
“Mitchell here was telling me what type of application they've been working on,” Robert says as he bites into his toast, his eyes momentarily closing as he chews slowly and then swallows. “It's funny how quickly they grow. I could swear that less than a year ago, he was running around with Aaron, getting into trouble and giving us a constant heart attack.”
Now it's my turn to duck my head as Jenny laughs.
“I remember this one time, Mitch, who'd barely learned how to drive, slipped into his father's car and tried to reverse it out of the driveway while Aaron tried to take pictures just so he could impress some girl in class—"
Beth snickers, but refuses to look up from her plate. I can tell she is listening raptly. Robert merely chuckles.
“And so, he does manage a careful reverse but becomes clueless on how to park, which pretty much causes a major freak out that has him bawling his eyes out in a moving car with no idea how to stop it.”
This time, Robert and Beth double over in laughter, Robert clutching at his sides.
“I could never forget that,” he gasps when he has somewhat stopped chortling.
I fight the blush that tries to coat my cheeks, because I remember that day, a little too well, and the intense fear that had gripped me.
“Don't forget that Aaron had freaked out so much he'd ended up calling 911,” Jenny gasps out as her head hits the table in laughter.
Beth, who's stopped giggling, says, “Trust men to do the stupidest things for women who they'll end up treating like shit right after.”
At her words and the venom in her tone, laughter seizes, and her parents gaze at her in surprise but do not say anything about her snippy comment.
Even though my eyes are trained on her, Beth doesn't look back. She has managed to avoid my stare for the last fifteen minutes. Noticing that the silence in the room is currently trailing toward a tense moment, I say, “I thankfully didn't end up being grounded.”
“I'm surprised your parents didn't ground you for the rest of your life. I'd certainly almost done that with Aaron,” Jenny admits, a serene smile on her face at the memory that runs through her mind.
“They'd been too shocked to.” I tell them, this time, joining in on the chuckle as Beth frowns.
“You got away with doing something that shitty?”
Her parents look at her, and I can tell they want to reprimand her for her outbursts. And even though Beth knows she's being rude, I can tell she does not care. She refuses to look her parents in the eyes, but instead goes back to chewing furiously. It would have been funny if she didn't look like she wanted to slit my throat with the bread knife on the table.
“Speaking of your parents, how are they?” Robert asks, completely ignoring his daughter's outburst. Although I can tell that they're both curious about what is going on with Beth, they do not comment on her attitude.
“They're both well,” I answer, a bit uncomfortable with the new line of questioning. I'd take a hundred more embarrassing stories about my teenage years over this conversation anytime.
“Still in New York?” Jenny is the one who asks this time, her eyes trained on my face.
I shift uncomfortably in my seat. “Yes. They both are.”
“Is there any reason you left them to come back all the way here?” Beth fires at me, and this time when she does glare, I glare back, hard, wishing more than anything that we were both alone so I could teach her a lesson.
“Beth!” Robert says, warning in his tone.