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Her dad yells from the dining room, “You guys coming or what?”
It’s too late. Her face turns red before she shouts frantically, “Uh, yeah, we’re coming!”
I set the glass down in front of me and Autumn fills it right away. She walks back around to the opposite side of the table where her seat is, setting the bottles down. I watch as she glances over the table one final time and smiles.God, she is so cute, even when she’s stressing over the small stuff.
Cathy interrupts my thoughts to announce, “Well, thank you all so much for being here tonight on Christmas Eve. Before we dive in, would anyone like to say grace?”
I’m not very religious, but a part of me feels like Cathy is wanting, or maybe even expecting me to volunteer to say it. Dan clears his throat.Hey, what have I got to lose?
“I’d be happy to,” I answer. I watch Cathy shoot Autumn a look, but I don’t have time to investigate that one further.
We all grab hands and bow our heads. I clear my throat, and begin, “Dear Lord, we thank you for this lovely meal we’re about to eat. And we thank you for this time together with loved ones who have been apart for so long. Please bless this food and our bodies. We are so excited to have this meal together,” I cringe as the words awkwardly fall out my mouth.I need to end this, like yesterday.“Thank you again for all you do. In your precious name, Amen.”
“Amen,” everyone else says in unison.
Riley looks directly at me from across the table and asks, “Dad, how come we don’t pray before we eat our meals?”
My face reddens.Have kids, they say. “Umm, I don’t know, to be honest with ya, bug.” My eyes shift towards my father whose eyes soften with a bit of regret. I wave a hand in his direction to show him subtly it’s no big deal.
“Oh, okay. Well, can we eat now?” Riley asks.
“We can do that,” I say with a smile. Hoping to change the topic, I ask, “So, Dan and Cathy, how have you both been doing?”
They exchange a cute glance with one another before they say in unison, “We’re doing great.” My eyes find Autumn and her lips part to release a small chuckle. I look back at her parents and can’t help but think how amazing it’d be to find a love like theirs. I’ve always held onto the idea that Autumn and I were meant to be, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe we’re just meant to be friends.Would I be okay with that?
“So, Autumn tells us you two have had a lot of adventures together lately, hm?” Cathy asks as she plops a serving of mashed potatoes onto her plate. I exhale.This is going to be a lot more awkward than I imagined.
“We have, indeed,” I say. Autumn looks at me with a sparkle in her eye, and my face heats up even more. “Autumn here is a brave one.”
“Autumn, brave?” her dad asks. Hairs stand up on the back of my neck as if they’re preparing for battle.
“She sure is,” I say defending her.
“Well, I’ve gotten a lot of help from Zayn,” she says.
“What’s the story behind all these random adventures?” My dad asks.
Autumn and I exchange glances. She takes a sip of her wine and says, “Zayn’s been helping me with this sort of bucket list that my sister and I created.”
“Oh, very cool. Makes sense why y’all went cliff diving off Sunrise Rock then.”
“You went cliff diving?” Cathy and Riley ask in unison.
Autumn chuckles. “That’s right. I did. In fact, I’ve had a lot of adventures. The only one missing is getting a tattoo.”
“That’s so cool,” Riley exclaims.
“Ah, tattoos. Never was a fan of ‘em myself. You have any tattoos, Rick?” Dan asks my dad.
“I’ve got a couple from back before Zayn here was even born. What about you, Cathy?” I watch as Dan and Cathy shake their heads at the same time.
Cathy takes a sip of wine and says, “Dan’s not a fan, but I’m trying to convince him to get one with me for our thirtieth wedding anniversary. Coming up next year already.”
My eyebrows raise. “Oh, wow . . . thirty years? That’s impressive.”
“Sure is,” my dad says. “I’m still waiting on this one to get married.” He points to me.
All my blood rushes to my face, and I slowly turn my head, trying to subtly give him a death glare. I set my fork down on my plate and brush my hair back nervously.
