Page 43 of Say My Name

“I am drinking the water.”

His hand remains on me.

I lower my voice. “My brother is twenty feet away.”

“I’m aware of that too.”

“You don’t seem concerned.”

“Should I be?”

I signed a contract agreeing to have his child, but Cliff still doesn’t know. None of our family does. And Dominic is touching me in public as if everyone should already understand. The worst part is that it feels right.

Before I can answer, my mother calls for help with the food. Dominic removes his hand, leaving the thin fabric of my dress cool where his palm had been.

“I’ll get the serving dishes,” I say.

“I know where they are.”

“This is my parents’ house.”

“I’ve been coming here for almost twenty years, El.”

He follows me inside anyway.

By late afternoon, the neighbors and most of my parents’ friends have left. Theo has been taken upstairs after discovering a patch of mud, and Sophie is supervising his bath because Rachel has apparently given up on preserving either child’s clothing.

I carry a stack of empty plates to the patio table, where Cliff, Dominic, and Marcus are arguing about a missing dormitory door from their college years.

“We returned it,” Cliff says.

“Three months later,” Marcus points out.

“That still counts.”

“You removed university property.”

Dominic leans back with one arm resting along the chair beside him. His second whiskey has been replaced by water. “Cliff believed the hinges were a design flaw.”

“They were.”

“You used a screwdriver.”

“I proved my point.”

Marcus looks at me. “This is why they’re still friends. Neither one can talk without getting the other in trouble.”

“I assumed blackmail was involved.”

Cliff points at me. “Family loyalty.”

“I’m loyal to Rachel. You’re included through marriage.”

“That isn’t how family works.”

“It is for us.”

Dominic laughs, and my head turns toward the sound.