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“Everyone as in Jack, Amy, Emily, and me?”
“You bet.”
The entrance to the house was pretty small. It featured a mirrored closet
and opened into the living room, which, in turn, curled and opened into the
kitchen and dining room. The dining room table was perched off to the side
of the double patio doors that opened up onto the back deck and backyard.
Since no one was in any of the rooms, Romi tried the back deck. Her mom
trailed after her, rattling off a million drink suggestions. Beer, juice, milk,
water, a cocktail, a slush drink, a smoothie—the list went on and on.
“Mom, I’m fine. Really. I just got here. Sit down. Relax.”
“Relax,” Deb scoffed. “Relax, she says. I have potatoes bubbling over in
the kitchen, salads to make, drinks to serve, the table to set—”
“Which we will all help you with.” Emily jumped up from her plastic
lawn chair, a sweating can of beer in hand. “Sit down for a few minutes at
least. We’ll all help you.”
Deb finally sat after more coaxing from Jack and Amy, who remained
seated in the plastic chairs ringing the edge of the deck. They all flashed her
smiles and waves as she seated herself in one of the two vacant chairs. Off
to the left, her dad was working away like a busy bee. He alternated
between the barbeque and the smoker, which were beside each other.
“Oh my god, what happened to your feet?” Emily asked as soon as Romi
sat. Jack and Amy leaned forward in their chairs. They had identical fruity
drinks in their hand. Some kind of blended slushy that was orange.
“I don’t want to get into it,” Romi groaned.
She glanced around at the concerned faces in the half circle. Her brother
and sister pretty much looked just like her. Dark hair. Green eyes. Tall and
slender. Her brother was taller than both her and Emily. He was actually
taller than their dad as well, at six foot three. He was pretty much a giant,
especially compared to Amy. Jack’s girlfriend was quite petite and barely
topped five feet. They laughed at the differences in height quite often and
