Entitlement by Alam Rumaan

Author:Alam,Rumaan [Alam, Rumaan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: no data
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Published: 2024-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

23.

hen Rachel complimented the snacks, Maggie forced another on her. For Maggie, food was an index of love. Brooke watched this interaction and wondered whether she should have made a fuss. Someday she’d be unable to compliment her mother’s cooking. Auntie Paige was dead. Kim’s dad was dead. It happened to everyone, there was no justice, no escaping it.

The subject brought Rachel to their caterer. “The passed course, before the dinner. It’s all vegan! You’d never notice unless I pointed it out.”

Maggie was rapt. “Are you expecting a lot of vegan guests?” Kids today!

“We just felt it was responsible.” Rachel put a possessive hand on Alex’s bicep to underscore that we. “We’ll have chicken and fish. But incremental choices can make a difference.”

People’s charming delusions. The idea of stuffed mushrooms staving off the planet’s death. Brooke had learned how you really make a difference.

“Have you settled on bridesmaid dresses?” If Maggie felt the contradiction between the life she’d lived and this enthusiasm over her son’s wedding plans, she was at peace.

Rachel showed off her phone. “They’re grapefruit pink, but it’s very subtle, hard to photograph. Brooke, you would look amazing in this color.”

That matter was settled. Brooke would be her brother’s best man. Brooke had gone to the formal-wear place down the hall from the foundation and been fitted for a suit meant for promgoing teens. “But I look incredible in my tux, if I do say so myself.”

Maggie thought this irreverence but parents never understood. Brooke was so lovely—slight, finely wrought, with elegant hands, perfect posture, skin that was both dark and luminous, which did not seem possible. This deserved to be shown off! Yes, it was wrong to want her to be conventional, feminine, adorned, and adored, Maggie knew. She kept it to herself. “These two were absolutely obsessed with each other when they were small,” she explained. “Even as teens. Never a fight I can remember.” A favorite memory, a story often told, the day Maggie found toddler Brooke with baby brother’s foot in her mouth. She loved him so much she wanted to consume him.

“Brooke’s the best dude I know.” Alex knew he’d done his beloved sister a favor, saving her from his bride. “It’s the only possible solution.”

“They say the wedding planning is the first test,” Maggie said. “You’re both so calm. This bodes well for the future.”

“Speaking of the future.” Brooke didn’t want to talk about grapefruit pink dresses. “I’m moving.”

“What do you mean?” Maggie, collecting spent napkins, hadn’t quite heard.

“I’ve been looking at places. And I think I found it. The one. I mean. Hillary, the broker, she’s the one Kim used, she wants me to think it over. Give it a night. But I can just tell.” She was talking more quickly than she’d meant to.

“I love your place,” Alex said. “And it’s kind of a deal.”

“It’s time to move on. It’s time to move forward, I think.” He was getting married, she wanted to say. And having a baby. Wasn’t she allowed to grow up as well?

Maggie knew her daughter’s salary, her expenses, her savings.

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