Hall stammers out an “Uhh,” before I slide back in.
“It’s aJane Eyreretelling! Very modern. And I have the starring role as Jane.”
“You’re in a movie?” Athena is troubled. “How much did you get paid? Who’s the director?”
“You’re acting now?” Mom interrupts, right as Grandma tsks and mutters, “Vanity projects.”
“I’m not allowed to discuss details yet, but the director’s name rhymes with Bess Panderson,” I reply, reaching across the table to fill Athena’s glass of punch all the way to the rim so that if she moves it a millimeter, punch will spill down her hand. “And no. It isn’t a vanity project.”
She and Felix emit identical noises. It’s the sound you make when you miss your flight by twenty seconds, and now your dream vacation’s canceled.
Pleased, I continue: “Jane takes a job as the nanny of a rich man’s daughter, but she’s hiding dark secrets about her past. The little girl is evil. And a ghost. Mr. Rochester is murdered by his previous nanny, who he’s stuffed into the attic. Then the two nannies live together in the house by themselves, throwing lots of parties. Also, the location is a reimagining of the Bellagio and there’s a whole makeover montage as the nannies get their groove back.”
“What?” Felix slams his fork onto the table. “When does it release? What stage of production are you in? I haven’t heard anything about this!”
“What’s it called?” Mom wants to know.
“My Eyre Ladies.”
Kaia, who is busy flipping cards, pauses with an Ace ofPentacles in the air when she hears this, snort-laughing. Grandma taps a different card, The Fool, and they share a grin.
Felix shoves to his feet. I watch him consider flipping the table. “That is the stupidest movie title I’ve ever heard.”
“Felix!” Mom cries. “Don’t be rude.” She leans across Dad to pat Hall’s hand. Dad’s watching me closely. “It sounds wonderful, dear. Felix, apologize right now.”
“ButI’mdoing a Jane Eyre movie.”
“I’m sure yours is nice, too,” I tell him calmly, cracking the turkey wishbone in half.
His face is red as burning coals. “You’re making this up. You heard about my movie, and now you’re fucking with me.”
“Why can’t you just be supportive?” Mom rebukes with a long-suffering sigh. I have become electric. This phrase has historically been used almost exclusively to me re: my siblings. I fix my brother with a wounded look.
“I supportyou,” I murmur in a small, quivering voice.
“Congratulations,” Dad forces himself to say during an awkward lull that follows. I think he’s been holding out hope that I’d do something normal with my life, or maybe follow in his footsteps as a photographer. The most excited I’ve ever seen him was when I was briefly fascinated with his camera when I was about sixteen. Then I broke it. “An actor. Suppose it’s fitting.” I assume he means that he shouldn’t be surprised because acting is somewhat of a family affair, but then he adds, “You’ve always been a bit melodramatic.” With a meaningful look from Mom, he hastily adds, “Which is a good thing, if you’re an actor.”
“The only acting she’s doing is right now, pretending she’s in a movie,” Felix shoots back. Then he points accusingly at Hall. “Did she hire you? Who are you? Tell me where you went to college.”
“My name is Hall,” Hall whispers, to which Athena’s husband, Sean (Felix always pronounces itSeen, just to annoy him), asks, “Is that any relation to Hall and Oates?”
I beam. “Sure, why not.”
Felix is tapping furiously on his phone. “I don’t see anything on here about a forthcomingJane Eyremovie. Besidesmine.”
I kick him under the table. “Mom! Tell Felix to stop Googling us. It’s invasive.”
“None of that Googling nonsense!” Grandpa joins in, passing behind me. He slides a twenty-dollar bill under the lip of my dinner plate. “Here you go, angel,” he says in a gruff whisper. “Buy yourself some of those pretzel bites with the peanut butter in them. Get me a bag, too.”
“Thank you, Grandpa.”
My siblings glare, except for Kaia, who is being tut-tutted by our mother (“You need to stop vaping. What if it damages your voice?”) and declares, “Five of Wands. Five of Swords. Seven of Wands. Two of Swords. Are we predictable or what?” She puffs on her vape pen and blows the smoke sideways, concentrating. “All foreshadows conflict.”
“None of that is real,” Dad tells her, to which she replies, “That is such a Virgo thing to say.”
Dad’s gaze falls on the money Grandpa gave me, and he tries not to sigh. I know he’s thinking that I’m being spoiled. Lawrence Watson has always been calm, eternally unruffled (which maddens Dad when he’s looking for an ally against Grandma’s overbearing personality), deferring to his wife and going with her flow. Mom parented us like her father parented her, generous to a fault, which was a cause of friction between her and Dad because it meant he had to be the no to her yes. Now that we’re all older, he’strying to alter that dynamic but is struggling to stop being that balancing force of opposition. According to legend, he was fun when they first met.
Sean pries Felix off Hall. “I want to know who he is!” my brother rages. “Tell me where she hired you from!” It shouldn’t surprise me that he suspects I’m lying. He and I are too similar.
