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Ugh. I was going to suggest changing it to something more current, but I didn’t want to crap on her idea of fun. Let someone else at the party do that.
“Oh. Uncle Charlie’s here,” I said, making a note to stay away. He was the family’s crotchety relation, the one who always said stupid, evil things that made you want to take a bath afterwards. Whether it was racist, sexist, or just about any other -ist one could think of, there was an inappropriate comment matching up to it in Charlie’s vast, yet shallow, opinion file.
“I know, I know,” Mom said, giving me a look. “We’ve been through this, Gigi.”
“Mom, I get that he’s Robert’s only living brother, and that he served in Vietnam,” I said. “And that messed with his head. But that doesn’t excuse him being… well, the way he is. You shouldn’t have invited him.”
“I know. But he’s Reece, Julian, and Nathan’s only connection to their deceased father,” she said, clucking her tongue. “I did it for the boys. Maybe someday Charlie will see the error of his ways, and start a new chapter in his life.”
I didn’t want to kick the day off too darkly by telling Mom the only new chapter Charlie was going to write in his life was his final chapter. It was most likely going to be lonely, bitter, and sad. I also didn’t want to tell her that his nephews couldn’t stand him and would have been perfectly happy to forget such a nasty man had ever been related to their father.
“Do you think there’ll be enough food for everyone?” I asked, looking at all the stacked coolers. “How many folks RSVP’d?”
“We’re supposed to have a hundred and… oh, thirty or so?” she said. “And there’d better be enough food. This is the best catering company in town, and I’ll be so upset if they let us down. Oh look, they’re bringing out the sushi now.”
Something in my stomach curdled. Who ate sushi at a picnic?
And how many people were going to get sick from it?
“Honey, just have some fun,” Mom said with a gentle push to my lower back. “There are tons of people here for you to talk to and I just know they’re thrilled to see you. And get some sun, you look so pale!”
“Yeah. Okay,” I replied, panic seizing me as she ran off to deal with the sushi.
I hadn’t thought she’d hold my hand, either figuratively or literally, for the entire day, but I also didn’t expect her to abandon me as soon as I’d arrived.
I wandered over to the bar set-up—again, who sets up a bar at a picnic?—and requested a Diet Sprite, trying to remain inconspicuous. As long as no one noticed me, I could skate by under the radar, wait the picnic out, and disappear at the appropriate time.
If I played my cards right, not even Mom would notice I’d gone.
Who’d want to hang out with me, anyway? No matter where I looked, I saw happy, smiling people. People who were glad to be at the park, people living their best lives. I saw cousins with new babies, couples in love, laughing children, and many, many stepsiblings. None of whom I wanted to talk to.
But I forced myself to make a lap around the picnic area, then wind my way through enough bodies that I was sure everyone had laid eyes on me at least once. With a new Diet Sprite, I retreated to a bench by the lake, sat down, and watched the water.
It was a beautiful, peaceful setting. I had to hand that to my mother, and it was nice to get some fresh air. But it didn’t take long for my thoughts to, once again, fill with the fact that Peter was gone and what I’d once thought the rest of my life looked like, was no more.
No, the path I’d known was gone. I was sure of nothing now, aside from the fact that I had to carve my own. By myself.
I had to find a better job. Maybe even a new, cheaper place to live. I supposed I could go back to school…
“Hey there,” a male voice said, shaking me out of my reverie.
* * *
