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All these observations make me miss my parents even more. Whenever they were in town, we’d always eat dinner together and it’d make me feel like I was part of a normal family for once. We’d laugh, talk at the table way past the time we finished our food, and just enjoy each other’s company.
I stare at my half-eaten plate, wrapping my arms around myself before sinking back into my chair.
The sound of silverware clinking against a porcelain plate draws the attention of everyone at the table.
“I’m tired of this,” Mr. P starts saying, bouncing his attention between everyone. “Everyone here is family and needs to start acting like one.”
Connor scoffs, getting awarded with a death glare from his dad. I sneak a glance at Canon who rests his elbow on the table and head in his hand, looking unamused.
“That’s it. Get up, everyone.” Mr.P’s powerful voice demands as he leaves the table and heads toward the oversized family room. Everyone looks around, waiting to see who’ll make the first move.
I roll my eyes and scoot my chair back, following Mr.P. Amy is on my heels and sure enough, everyone else follows behind.
When we all file in, finding our own respective spots to retreat to, Mr. P is pulling out a dusty purple box from one of the bookshelves to the left.
“Taboo?” Connor asks while chuckling, “you can’t be serious.”
Mr. P shoots him another glare before saying, “Everyone is required to play.Everyone.” He glances at Canon. “Game nights tend to bring families closer and can help us learn a lot about each other.”
“Sounds like you Google searched how to be a happy family,” Canon adds, which causes Mr.P’s eye to twitch and me to think that’s exactly what he did.
I try hard to suppress my laugh, but it slips through anyway.
“Melinda and Demi, you’re on my team. Canon, Conner and Amethyst will be the other team.”
I give Amy a half smile and squeeze her hand, hoping it helps ease the nerves I know is wracking through her body.
We all rearrange ourselves so that my team is on one side of the room, and Amy’s team is on the other.
Canon lazily raises his hand from where he leans on the arm of a dark brown leather couch.
“Yes, son?” Mr. P asks. Something behind Canon’s eyes flicker and Connor crosses his arm from where he sits next to Ame.
“Is someone going to explain what the fu —“ he stops himself, then stretches his neck before continuing, “what Taboo is?”
Mr. P is about to answer when I suddenly find my voice. “I’ve got this,” I start. “Taboo is a card game where you get your team to guess the word at the top of your card without saying the list of words below it.” I grab the box and pull out a card to show him what I’m talking about.
“You’re allowed to talk but you can’t gesture or anything.”
“Did you get that? Or did you need her to explain it slower?” Connor sneers.
“Do you want to shut the fuck up? Or do you want me to add to that black eye on your face?”
It’s at that moment when I notice that Connor does in fact have a black eye. I don’t know what’s been going on with him lately, but it seems like he comes home with some type of injury all the time now.
“That’s enough!” Mr. P raises his voice while Canon and Connor have a showdown with their eyes.
Mrs. P slurps loudly on her wine glass while Amy rolls her eyes from where she sits.
“Choose who goes first on your team, I’ll go first on mine.”
The game has a rough start, Mr. P giving hints that only men in corporate America will understand, and Connor throws jabs at Canon while getting his team to guess. When it’s Amy’s turn, she and Canon seem to make some sort of dynamic duo because he’s able to guess every word she has. I can tell this makes Connor feel some type of way, but of course he won’t voice it. Mrs. P does a decent job, but I can tell her wine has made her lethargic, so she’ll probably crash soon.
When it’s finally my turn, Amy walks back to the couch, high-fiving a smiling Canon, and something about the way his teeth hit the light makes me shudder.
He strides over to stand next to me at the fireplace as we take our position.
I pick up a card and Canon flips the timer, signaling that I only have 60 seconds to get my team to guess a lot of words.
