Belittled Women by Amanda Sellet

Author:Amanda Sellet
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

“She’s got such a soft heart, it will melt like butter in the sun if any one looks sentimentally at her.”

—Little Women

Chapter Twenty

The purpose of staging a fake holiday dinner the night before school tours was to help everyone “get in the spirit.” Mostly what I got from the experience was indigestion.

By now, Andrea and Hudson probably expected a certain degree of oddness from my family, but this would be kicking it to the next level. Were they ready to chow down on turkey and all the trimmings in late April? Listen to Bing Crosby on a warm spring evening? Drink cocoa and make popcorn garlands, even though it was closer to Easter than Christmas and the fake tree in the living room looked mangy enough without draping it in snack food?

None of that was my problem. I was responsible for vacuuming the downstairs, cleaning the guest bathroom, and peeling potatoes. That left just enough time for a quick run—or it would have, if I’d set off at the right time, or remembered to wear my watch. And if it hadn’t turned out to be one of those days where you hit the perfect rhythm and running feels right, like your legs could carry you forever. The last thing I wanted was to turn around, so I kept telling myself just a little farther, which was how I ended up getting home late.

When I walked into the kitchen, pots were bubbling on every burner. Mom closed the oven door with a bang, sucking on the finger she must have burned poking at the turkey. There was so much steam in the air, condensation had formed on the inside of the windows. I unlatched the one behind the table, raising the bottom pane as far as it would go.

“Nice of you to join us,” Amy scolded, like she was the grownup in the room.

Ignoring her, I crossed to where Mom was rolling out the store-bought piecrust so it would look homemade. “What can I do?”

She ran the back of her wrist across her forehead before glancing at me. “It would be nice if you put on something a little more festive.”

I was so focused on speed I didn’t realize there was someone in my room until I was whipping the towel off my wet hair after the world’s quickest shower.

“What are you doing here?” I squawked. Hudson was stretched out on my bed with his legs crossed, flipping through my yearbook. Setting it aside, he smiled at me.

“Waiting for you. Can you do that thing with the towel again?” He tossed his head, giving it the full shampoo commercial back-and-forth.

“In your dreams.”

“Uh, yeah. I’m a teenage guy, sitting in a hot girl’s room while she takes a shower. This is probably the high point of my existence.” He sat up, swinging his legs to the floor as he inspected the dresser with its missing knobs and lopsided mirror half covered in cross-country ribbons and peeling stickers. “I have to say, I was hoping for more bras.

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