Our New Normal (ARC) by Colleen Faulkner

Author:Colleen Faulkner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2019-07-19T00:00:00+00:00

19

Liv

I turn the burner on under the pot of potatoes and reach for my glass of wine. I hear Oscar’s brother, Joe, shouting, “Child! Child!” from the family room.

“Boy!” yells their sister.

“Boy child,” hollers Joe and there’s raucous laughter.

They’re playing charades: Oscar, and his siblings and all of our children while I finish preparing our Thanksgiving dinner. Even my parents have joined in the game. Dad isn’t actually playing, but I hear him chuckling, which means he’s engaged. I feel as if he’s better mentally when he’s engaged with others. And my mother won the last round. She’s having a good day, feeling decent. She arrived dressed in a skirt and sweater and knee-high boots and didn’t need her wheelchair. I think she misses the old days when holidays were big in our house. She and Dad entertained often and they served many a cocktail in their home. While we didn’t have many relatives, my parents had a lot of friends. No one who knew Ed and Bernice Cosset ever had to spend a Christmas or a Thanksgiving, or even a Saint Paddy’s Day, alone.

The sound of the laughter makes me smile, but also thankful I’m not in the middle of it. After spending a fun couple of hours peeling potatoes, chopping veggies for stuffing, and making a homemade version of green bean casserole with different family members, I was relieved when Marie suggested they move to the family room and play a game while the turkey finished roasting. I genuinely enjoy cooking and I’ve been so busy working this week at the Anselin farm that being alone in the relative peace of the warm kitchen to gather my thoughts and catch my breath is nice.

I set the lid on the potato pot with one hand and sip my Malbec with the other.

“Mm, smells good in here.”

I turn to see Oscar coming into the kitchen, a glass in each hand. “Marie likes the wine. Wants to know what box it came out of. And she needs a refill.” He raises the stemmed wineglass high.

I smile and take it from him. Marie makes fun of my selections of wine. She buys bottles that cost forty dollars, but she can afford it; her husband, Sai, is a plastic surgeon. I see no reason to spend that much on wine, even if I had it. I doubt I’d be able to taste the difference between the eight-dollar bottle of wine and one costing five times that. The funny thing is that Marie admits my boxed wine is pretty damned good; she just can’t bring herself to buy it.

“I’ll get the wine,” I tell Oscar.

“And your dad wants another Old Fashioned.” He holds up the 1960s-style rocks glass that probably is from the 1960s. A remnant of Oscar’s parents’ possessions. Like my parents, they were seriously into their cocktails. Think Mad Men on a Friday night; that was the Ridgelys.

“Think it’s okay?” He holds up the glass. “To make your dad another?”

“Sure. He’s not

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