I make sure to serve Cori before myself. She sits back and lets me do it, but she feeds me a piece of her chicken before she eats. I wink at her, and she blushes just like her mother.
Preacher glares at Devin from across the table, but all that idiot does is stuff his face while Ruby looks around, confused. She starts to whine.
“Devin, feed your daughter,” his mother snaps. Ruby bends down and tries to stick her hand in her father’s plate.
“Can I do one thing for myself first?” Devin snaps. “Selene, can you help her? Cori’s selfish ass won’t.”
“You’re God damn right about that.” My wife offers me a piece of her zucchini while smiling in my face.
“Language,” Leander says.
“Fuck him,” Cori whispers it under her breath, but Selene hears and chuckles.
“She’s your daughter, Devin. Your parents always fed you first. And you want to talk about selfish?” Selene points her fork at Devin.
“You three witches always stick together.” Devin looks around.
“I’ll tell Rip you called his wife a witch.” Devin swallows at Preacher’s threat, but he doesn’t respond.
“I don’t appreciate you calling my wife that either.” My words come out so sharp that Ruby cries. Devin looks away, so Preacher gets up and takes her out of the highchair. He sits back down with her on his lap. “Can someone get me another plate? I’ll feed her.”
“If you don’t get your ass up and do something, I’m kicking you out of my house.” Devin nearly sprints to the kitchen at his father’s threat. He returns with a kid’s plate and a spoon. Preacher puts food on it, cuts it into small pieces, and feeds Ruby, who gets him dirty in the process. She wipes her mouth on his shirt, puts her hands on the plate, and wipes food in his hair. He doesn’t mind.
“And how do you two know each other?” Annette asks while she looks from me to Preacher.
“Church,” I announce.
“Church?” Selene says the word as if it’s dirty. “Yeah, right.” She eyes me and whispers, “Like he goes to church.”
“Oh, yeah. It was at Preacher’s father’s church, and he was giving the sermon that day. Remember, Preach?”
“I’d rather not,” he snaps. “And that’s not the day we met. We met when we—"
“It was about women’s virtue and how precious it is. You talked about Jezebels, whores, and eternal hellfire. It was a great sermon. You did your thing, boy.” I grin at my friend, whose nostrils have now flared.
“So, you were on a platform talking about women and their bodies?” Selene pulls her chair away from him.
“Bodies? What? No. And that was—”
“I wish men would stay out of women’s business. Ugh. That’s just gross.” Selene makes a face of disgust, and Preacher shifts in his seat.
“You don’t understand,” Preacher begins in protest.
“I agree,” Eden says, while giving Preacher a dirty look.
“You three aren’t real women anyway,” Devin says with a loud cackle. “Don’t worry about it. And I agree with Preacher. Women need to be told what to do.”
“Boy, shut the hell up,” Leander says.
“Leander, be kind,” Annette says.
“I’m just saying, Preacher is a bro like me. Maybe I should go to church more.” Devin cackles, and Selene scrunches her face, just like I knew she would.
“Oh, wait. You don’t understand. I’m—”
The doorbell rings, and Selene can’t get away from Preacher fast enough.
“What are you doing?” Preacher whispers, but all I do is grin. Selene returns with her arm wrapped around a man.
