“Maybe I’d have come home more if I didn’t feel like the enemy in my own damn family.” Laine drops her knife onto her plate with a clang. “You’ve pushed me out every chance you’ve had.”
Rachel rolls her eyes and laughs, but it just sounds mean. “Oh, get over yourself! I never pushed you anywhere because you’ve never been here to push. You’ve missed out on everything, and for what—to embarrassyourself nationally? Yet here you are after ruining your career, still expecting us to kiss your feet. No, thank you.”
“Rachel, stop it this instant.” Molly throws her napkin on the table. “You don’t speak for this family, and youcertainlydon’t get to pass judgment on how we treat one another.”
Rachel’s jaw clamps shut. Molly breathes deeply before addressing the table. “Now, we can talk about our feelings as a family, with love in our hearts, or we’re not going to talk about them at all. Ezra, you go first.” Molly takes her own glass of wine and throws back a swallow, and Ezra, flustered as a student who got called on unexpectedly, sits up straighter.
“All right.” He clears his throat. “Lainey-belle, your mother and I have missed you so much, and we would love it if you came around more, understanding how it’s not always easy for you to do so.” He pauses and looks meaningfully at Rachel. “And that’s the long and short of it. Chance, son, your turn.”
“I agree with Rachel,” Chance says, his jaw tense. “Until you show us you’re ready to become part of this family again, I’m afraid I don’t buy what you’re selling here, Charlaine.”
“And how exactly am I supposed to do that?” Laine tosses her uneaten biscuit back onto her plate. “Go back in time and be at your wedding? Jesus, Chance, I’ve told you how sorry I was to miss it—when are you going to let it go?”
“Maybe when it stops being the norm for how you treat this family. You’ve been gone so long, and you only come backnowbecause you want something?” He shakes his head and releases a sigh. “It sucks, Charlaine.”
My brow furrows. What does Laine want from them?
“That’s not why I came back.” Laine pushes away from the table with a screech.
“Then prove it.” Chance rises from his seat, too.
“Iwill!”
They stand there, a table and twelve years of growing apart between them, glaring at each other.
“Rachel, honey, are you ready tokindlyshare your feelings?” Molly asks over the straining silence.
“Sorry, I’m fresh out of kind feelings for you, Charlaine.” Rachel stands now, too. “Guess you’ll just have to reap what you’ve sown.” With that, she grabs a handful of plates and marches off to the kitchen.
Laine’s eyes close in frustration, and Molly puts her arm around her oldest daughter and brushes a lock of Laine’s wavy hair behind her ear. “I love you, baby, and so does Rachel. She just … doesn’t know it yet.”
That makes Laine huff, though it’s sad. They walk us to the door, and then it’s my turn to get hugged by Molly. I relish it, relaxing into it in a way that would be embarrassing if I thought Molly would mind, but I know she doesn’t. She’s got enough puremomin her to share.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Woods. I know you wanted us to get past all our issues tonight.”
Mrs. Woods smiles and runs her small hand up my shoulder. “It takes time, Zoe. I’m just happy to see you at my table, though you’re never allowed to say grace again, that’s for damn sure.” She snorts. “The bitchiness. Y’all are too much.”
“Wait, Aunt Laine!” Darla and Benny come running up the hall. “You didn’t say goodbye.”
“I’m sorry, lil bits.” Laine kneels to give Darla and Benny an awkward high five. They miss no less than three times, all of them laughing by the end. Behind Darla, Chance stands with a shoulder pressed against the hallway wall, watching.
“The twins have a soccer game next week,” he says as Laine straightens. “Saturday morning.”
“Awesome. Good luck out there.”
Chance rolls his eyes and starts to leave, and suddenly, I get exactly what’s going on here. But if Laine senses Chance’s displeasure, she doesn’t show it.
“We’ll be there, Chance.” I nudge Laine. “Right?”
For a second, Laine looks like she’s about to argue, but then understanding registers in her eyes. “Oh, um, yeah. Text me where and when?”
Chance hovers in the doorway, then nods. He puts a hand on Darla’s and Benny’s shoulders and ushers them back inside. Laine releases a long breath, looks at me, then adjusts her glasses.Thank you, she mouths, smiling slightly. Then aloud: “Ready to head home?”
The words trickle down my chest, sweet and sticky like Molly’s fresh honey.
Home.WithLaine.
And for one impossible second, I wish it were true.
