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“He’s in the den, pouting.” She removed her hand from her hip just long enough to gesture vaguely down the hallway. “You have time to say hello, but you’ll want to start getting ready soon, so don’t dilly-dally.”
“Yes, Mama,” I sighed, earning a swat on the butt.
As I walked down the hallway, I ran my hand along the wall, which was covered with pictures of Sissy and me. I stopped in front of my parents’ wedding photo. I loved that picture of them. Someone had captured them in the middle of their first dance. Mama’s head looked like it was floating on a sea of white tulle, but their smiles were so adoring. I had seen them exchange that smile thousands of times growing up.
“Are you going to stand in front of that picture all afternoon, or are you going to come say hello?” Daddy called from the living room, setting my feet back in motion.
I found him sitting in the recliner, remote controller in hand and a large white cast covering his entire left leg.
“Hi, Daddy.” I leaned over to place a kiss on his whiskered cheeks. “You look pretty good for a guy who fell through a floor.”
I moved around his chair and sat on the end of the sectional closest to him. Curling my feet underneath me, I took a second to really look at him. Aside from the cast and a few scratches on his arms, you’d never have guessed he’d fallen through a floor a few days ago.
“I wouldn’t get too comfortable if I were you,” Daddy said, interrupting my assessment. “Your mama won’t give us five whole minutes before she’s in here prodding us. I was rooting for you out there, trying to get us both out of this shindig.”
“I’m out of practice.” I returned his smile. “I don’t think ‘shindig’ is going to be on the list of approved words for this evening.”
He snorted, rubbing a hand over his mouth. “It’ll be a cold day in hell ’fore I change any damn thing about myself just to impress those hoity-toity people.”
“So it sounds like you’re pretty excited about this dinner too?”
The look he gave me was a cross between ‘what do you think’ and ‘it’s never too late to kick you out.’ But all he said was, “They’re just not our kind of people.”
“I have a feeling they feel the exact same way about us.” Another snort. “It might not be so bad. I’m sure the food will be delicious.”
“I suppose. This engagement has brought in some new business, too,” he admitted, still not sounding thrilled. “Sissy seems happy about it.”
“Speak of the she-devil, where is Sissy?”
He gave me a look that could have peeled the paint right off the walls. Fortunately, I was made of sterner stuff and continued giving him my most charming smile.
“Your sister is meeting us there.” If he noticed my relief at hearing she wasn’t home, he didn’t comment. “Something about her dress not being right. She’s been nervous about this dinner all week, since it’s the first time the families are ‘officially’ meeting. Between her and your mama, I should’ve just stayed in the hospital a couple extra days.”
The clip of heels on hardwood floors had us both turning to look toward the entryway. Mama announced her presence with a quick clap of her hands.
“What are y’all doing still sitting around? We’ve got to be on the road in just over an hour and you both need to start getting ready. You’ll have plenty of time to catch up later. Sutton, sweetie, did you bring something nice home to wear?”
“I have a nice pair of jean — ”
Her gasp cut me off mid-sentence, as she literally clutched her pearls.
“You cannot wear jeans tonight. Frank, tell her.”
“You can’t wear jeans tonight,” Daddy repeated dutifully.
“Traitor,” I whispered, earning an eyeroll from both parents. “I was joking. I packed a couple things that should be appropriate for a dinner with the esteemed St. James dynasty.”
“I’m choosing to ignore your tone, Sutton.” She turned her merciless gaze on Daddy. “Frank, where are your crutches? Why are you both still sitting there? Let’s get going!”
So much for being able to manifest my way out of this dinner.
5
Mama spent most of the surprisingly long drive across town reciting anunsurprisingly long list of dos and don’ts for dinner. At one point, Daddy let out a snore from the back seat that resulted in a near-death experience when Mama turned around to scold him for nodding off. She had insisted on driving, because Daddy couldn’t and I had already driven so much today. Daddy grunted every time we hit a bump in the road, and after about the fifth time Daddy complained about her driving from the backseat, I started to wonder if Mama wasn’t accelerating over them on purpose.
By the time the ostentatious iron gates of the St. James estate came into view, I was seriously considering whether this evening would really be any less painful than exiting a moving vehicle.
Daddy let out a slow whistle as we drove past the open gate and meandered up the long, winding driveway surrounded by carefully manicured bushes. The house itself wasn’t visible in the quickly vanishing evening light, but it looked like every light in the front-facing rooms were on. I thought I saw a pond sandwiched between the house and what looked like an honest-to-goodness greenhouse.
