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The twins and Maddie stared at her, mesmerized.
Finn held her hand, unsteady on his feet, slurring a little.
“Hey! I’m sorry I’m late. Bill didn’t show up for his shift.” Finn put his arm tightly around his guest’s waist, brushed those boobs. “I’ve brought my friend Alexis to make it up to you. Alexis, this is my family. Family, this is Alexis.”
She waved, leaning in closer to Finn. “Hi there,” she said.
My mother smiled, jumping out of her seat. “Hi, Alexis,” my mother said. “I’ll set a place for you next to Finn.”
My mother grabbed a woven placemat, plates for pot roast and pie, as Finn introduced Alexis around the room, finishing his introductions with the people he wanted to meet Alexis most.
“Alexis,” Finn said. “That is my brother, Bobby, and his wife, Margaret.”
He was rubbing her ass the entire time.
Bobby kept his eyes ahead of him, Margaret too.
Ben met my eyes, questioning what was happening. “You okay?” he mouthed.
I shrugged, at a loss as to what to do, watching Finn snuggling into his friend.
“Why don’t you two help yourself to the roast?” my mother said.
Alexis shrugged. “I don’t eat anything with a face. Except for shellfish.”
I stared at Alexis, ready to slap her, not for her statement but for being here at all. As though it were her fault.
“Alexis is actually a vegetarian,” Finn said.
Bobby laughed, but it was a mean laugh. Angry.
“Thanks for translating,” he said.
Finn looked at him, confused, uncertain why Bobby would be upset with him. He was oblivious that Bobby had found out about him and Margaret, too focused on his own asinine agenda: to move on from Margaret. Alexis was here for Margaret’s benefit. Bobby wasn’t supposed to know.
“Ben,” my father said. “You were saying?”
“What?” Ben said.
Ben’s eyes were still on Alexis and Finn, confused.
My mother touched his arm. “You were giving a toast, Ben,” she said.
“Right . . .” Ben raised his glass, trying to remember. “I was just going to say, I’m happy to be here. And I want to raise a glass to Dan and Jen for always making me feel like a part of your family, even when I haven’t deserved it.”
Finn laughed. “When was that?”
I pressed hard into his thigh.
“Ow,” Finn said. Then he raised his hand in mock surrender. “Just checking where we were on the honesty meter.”
Bobby shook his head. “Is that what you were checking?” he said.
“Eat,” my father said loudly, everyone looking at him. “Let’s eat.”
We all began eating, Finn keeping his hand over Alexis’s shoulder, groping her. Then he did the worst thing. He started to turn toward Margaret; Margaret, who was focused on her roast, shaking. Shaking in the face of Finn’s cruelty, of Bobby’s anger.
“Son of a bitch,” Bobby said.
