I heard a car door close from what sounded like across the street. Oh no.
Mom went back to her new favorite hobby—spying on the neighbor across the street. She had her binoculars set on a side table in front of the window with the best view.
“What is she doing?” I heard Heath whisper to Natalie.
Before Natalie had to answer, I came to her rescue. “My mother has decided the nice lady who moved in across the street is a serial killer.”
Heath blinked. I’d never seen him rattled before. But this did it. He looked around the table to see if maybe we were playing a joke on him. Everyone just went on eating, as if everything was normal.
“Oh, don’t act like it’s so weird,” Mom said from her perch. She didn’t turn around or stop spying. “This is the first time she’s had family over since she moved in. Suspicious, if you ask me.”
Alexis rolled her eyes. “Could you please pass the biscuits, Dad?”
He did it without commenting.
“Do you know she said she doesn’t like cookies?”
It was unclear who my mom was talking to.
I loved Natalie even more when she spoke up. “Are you serious, Lynne? She doesn’t like cookies?”
Mom whipped her head around. “Yes! Can you believe it? I took her an assortment of homemade flavors. Worked all day on it. She turned her nose up at it and said she didn’t like cookie or sweets of any kind.”
“You… you think she’s a serial killer because she doesn’t likecookies?” Heath said in a very judgmental tone.
“Thatisstrange,” Nat said, defending Mom. I mean… itwasweird that she thought someone’s cookie preferences were somehow tied to homicidal instincts, but whatever. Mom had said stranger things before.
“Well, that and I saw blood dripping from the trunk of her car.” Mom said angling her binoculars for a better view.
Heath gasped.
“I’m pretty sure it was just rusty water,” Dad said, finally speaking up. He looked conflicted, though. “I mean… it did look like blood. But surely it was rusty water.”
“Well, they went inside. Show’s over.” She came back to the table. “Natalie, will you be going over to Heath’s family sometime today?”
She acted like she hadn’t just done something super strange in the middle of Thanksgiving breakfast.
“Yes,” Heath said, bemused. “For dinner.”
Natalie looked at him in surprise. “But Heath, your parents are on a cruise…”
Heath cleared his throat, cutting her off. “On behalf of my parents, I’d like to invite all of you to our formal Christmas Eve ball.”
Everyone got quiet and paused in the middle of what they were doing.
It was quiet for too long, and I could tell Nat was dying for someone to say something.
“Well, thank you, Heath! We’d all love to be there,” Mom assured him.
The look on Dad’s face said everything about how much he’d ‘love’ to be there. I agreed with him, but everyone else seemed pleased enough to go.
And I had to admit I was glad it seemed that Heath was including us as Natalie’s family, just like Mom had said.
She needed that. “We’ll be there,” I said and received a warm smile from Nat.
“Feel free to bring a date,” Heath said, looking at me with less than friendly eyes.
“I’m not dating anyone right now,” I said with a big smile. “But it’ll be nice to hang out with Nat some at the ball.”
