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ANNA

“YOU ORDERED DELIVERY FOOD,” my best friend deadpanned. “In the middle of your family Christmas party dinner.”

I peeked around the corner, making sure nobody was in the hallway. “Celine, I’m not eating anything she makes,” I whispered into my phone.

My family was talking loudly in the tiny, dated kitchen across the house where my older sister was definitely tainting yet another side dish.

I slid down to sit against the wall under a gold-framed photo of my brother with the Grinch at some holiday pop-up circa twelve years ago. He was screaming. It was my sister Jodie’s favorite.

“Sorry,” I whispered. “I love my sister, but I cannot afford to get food poisoning right before Christmas.”

“Is it that bad?”

“The smoke alarm has gone off twice. I watched her cut the lettuce with the same knife she used to cut the raw bacon, and I’m pretty sure she thawed the turkey on the counter for the last two days. I try to tell her and she gets mad.”

Celine sucked air through her teeth. “Yup, that sounds like Jodie. Are you at least warning your parents?”

“Of course. Literally nobody is listening to me. This is gonna be terrible. The house is down to one bathroom right now. She doesn’t want to pay weekend pricing, so the plumber isn’t coming until Monday.”

“Yikes. It’s gonna be a shitshow.”

“Ha.”

Celine yawned and I looked at my delivery app. The guy was on the way with my food. “My delivery’s coming.”

“What’d you order?” she asked.

“Pancake Disco.”

“For dinner?”

“I’ll eat pancakes anytime,” I said, leaning to look around the corner again. “I got some potatoes too.”

“The junkyard ones? I freakin’ love those.” I heard her pressing buttons on a microwave. “So how’s the house look? Is it cute?”

“It is cute,” I admitted. My sister was good at crafting, and she loved the holidays. “She wrapped all the photo frames in the living room to look like gifts. And Ivan did the outside. Very festive.”

“So contrary to the culinary horrors within.”

I had to cover my snort.

“Anna!” Dad called. “We’re waiting for you!”

I puffed air into my cheeks. “I have to go,” I said quietly. “My dad wants to play Cards Against Humanity.”

“Oh. Does he know what it is?”

“Not a clue.”

She hung up, laughing.

I wandered back out to the living room. My older sister, her husband Ivan, my sixteen-year-old brother Devon, and my parents were gathered around the coffee table.

“Everything okay?” Mom said, dealing cards. “You were gone for a while.”

I put a hand to my belly, laying the groundwork for my departure in ten minutes. “My stomach’s a little queasy.”