Aunt Maggie Mae catches sight of me the moment I enter the kitchen.
“Well, there she is! I declare, you look more like your mama every time I see you!”
You know those people who make fun of how Southern people talk? They must have gotten their source material from my aunt. Maggie Mae, who is married to my mom’s brother Marcus, was one of those true Southern belles back in the day, complete with the big white dress when she was presented to society. And she won’t let you forget it.
She pulls me against her chest and I’m afraid I’m going to suffocate in her overly endowed boobs. “Bless your heart, sweetie. I heard about your heartache. That boy ain’t got the good sense God gave a rock.”
“Um…thanks, Aunt Maggie Mae.” I think.
I’m passed around the kitchen and kissed on the cheek, the forehead, and even the lips (by Aunt Kelsey, who does not understand personal space at all) in a matter of minutes. I slide onto one of the bar stools as the aunts resume their argument over whose ambrosia salad is better—Aunt Kelsey’s, made the classic way, or Aunt Patrice’s, made with Jell-O—and which one should be served for lunch on Christmas Day.
I’m firmly in the anti-ambrosia camp, but I keep that opinion to myself.
Aunt Maggie Mae has two sets of twins—twin daughters who are close to my age and twin sons who are much younger. The twin daughters, Mary Jo and Jo Lynn, give me an awkward wave from across the kitchen, and I give them a more awkward wave back. When they were young, almost all of their clothing matched except for the monogram. Even now at eighteen, theycoordinate.It’s ridiculous. They’re a year older than Olivia, Charlie, and me, but we’re all in the same grade. Charlie’s been calling them the Evil Joes since we were twelve, when they locked him out of the condo we were all sharing in Florida in nothing but hisStar Warsbriefs. Truthfully, he had no business still wearing those. Think: small. And tight. A group of teenage girls he had been flirting with all week saw him, and you’d have thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. Those girls giggled every time Charlie got anywhere near them for the rest of the week.
He never got over it.
My aunt Lisa, Mom’s twin, and her son, Jake, are here, too.
“Sweet Soph! So glad to see you!” Aunt Lisa looks so much like Mom, it’s hard not to cry when I see her.
“I’m happy to see you, too.” I hug her a little longer than normal. She even smells like Mom. “Where’s Olivia?”
“Already at the shop,” she says. “I hear Nonna volunteered you to work there over the break.”
“Of course she did,” I answer with a smile.
Jake nudges me and says, “Dang, girl. You look like crap.”
Aunt Lisa smacks him in the back of the head. “Jake, don’t be a jerk.”
He laughs as he hobbles off in search of an open seat at the table. Jake broke his foot doing something stupid, probably involving heights and visions of grandeur, at his fraternity house at LSU, and now he’s wearing one of those boots.
Charlie weaves his way to where I’m sitting, and I hop up from my bar stool, grinning, when he gets close. I haven’t seen him in forever. He pauses a second or so before giving me a halfhearted hug. I’m a little taken aback by his hesitation, but my arms go around him immediately, and I feel better than I have all morning.
“Are you okay? Nonna told me what happened with Griffin,” Charlie says when I finally let him go.
Of course Nonna told him. She’s probably told everyone by now.
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
He sits on the stool next to me. “Other than the boyfriend trouble, how’s it going?”
I shrug. “Good, I guess. Busy. How about you?”
He nods. “Good. Busy, too.”
Charlie falls silent, and I’m racking my brain, trying to think of another question to ask him. Gah, since when were conversations with Charlie this hard?
Before I have a chance to come up with anything, he says, “Well, we’re planning on hanging out after family dinner tonight, if you’re around.”
I swallow too much coffee and cough when the hot liquid goes down wrong. “Family dinner tonight?” I choke out. If word has spread about my boyfriend wanting to dump me, I’m not sure I can face all of the pity stares I’m sure to get.
Charlie smiles. “You know it. It doesn’t take much for Nonna to get everyone together, and your visit will definitely bring out the extra table. We can go to Wes’s after to get away from the crowd.”
Wes lives next door and has been more like Charlie’s brother than friend, mainly because Charlie spent half his childhood at Wes’s house. Charlie’s parents met when they both worked for Doctors Without Borders in the Philippines, where Aunt Ayin is originally from, and they both still donate time wherever they’re needed. Charlie and Sara stay at Nonna’s when their parents are gone. Which means Charlie almost always ends up at Wes’s.
“We’ll make Olivia come, too,” he says. “The Fab Four…just like old times.”
