What Happens at Con by Cathy Yardley

Author:Cathy Yardley [Yardley, Cathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cathy Yardley
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Abraham walked into the kitchen, where his sisters and his mother had converged. His mother’s eyes were twinkling with mischief.

“Did you call all of them after I asked to see if Dad was going to be around tonight?” Abraham said, keeping the anger out of his tone, although irritation still bled through.

“Yes, I did.” His mother didn’t sound repentant in the slightest. Probably because she wasn’t. “You never bring girls home. I figured we’d just get the ‘meet the family’ done early.”

“Technically, I didn’t bring a girl home today, either,” he said, ignoring her responding eye roll. “I mean, yes, she’s a girl, and, yes, I brought her over here, but that isn’t ‘bringing a girl home’ with all the baggage and stuff.”

His brothers-in-law were riding herd on the kids, playing with hoses and squirt guns out on the wide lawn, or watching the Mariners game in the house. His sisters had brought over mountains of food, from the looks of what was accumulated in the kitchen: potato salad, sandwiches, chips and salsa, corn on the cob. It looked like his father would probably burn a few burgers. He’d nudge Ani toward the sandwiches, he thought without remorse. His father burned everything.

His mother wouldn’t be deterred. “You said that you wanted your father to help her. You haven’t talked about a woman since Becky, and that was in high school.”

“Yeah, and Becky wasn’t a good example.” He and Becky had been inseparable in high school. They had been Bonnie and Clyde, Sid and Nancy. In other words, they’d been massively unhealthy and codependent. He’d spent most of his high school years taking care of her, putting up with her tantrums, and dealing with her jealousy until they’d finally both gotten sick of each other, living together for the summer after they graduated. He’d signed up for the army. She’d gotten married. She was now on husband number two and child number three, from what his mother had told him — because of course she knew all the details. From the sounds of it, Becky was also still addicted to drama, possibly working on husband number three.

A little part of him still loved Becky, and girls like her — confused girls, ones that needed care, ones that wanted to drown in attention. But he wasn’t eager to play white knight to that kind of emotional roller coaster anymore. And Ani, well, Ani hardly seemed the type who wanted to stir up trouble simply to see if he cared. If anything, she ran from trouble. And any emotion on his part, really. He frowned at the thought.

“What’s this Ani like?” his sister Mona asked. “She’s off with Dad in his workshop, so don’t worry about her overhearing.”

“She’s pretty,” his sister Darla said. “And so tall!”

“And really smart, right?” Mona added.

He frowned. What was he supposed to say? “She’s… different.”

“Different how?” Mona asked.

“She’s really independent,” he said. “And I guess she doesn’t really need me for anything.” At least, she didn’t need him to “fix” things, she didn’t need him for company, didn’t need him for emotional support.

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