“Stop it.” Lily turned to me, true concern in her eyes. “I didn’t tell them in a gossipy way. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have told them at all.”
“Forgive my family for being rude.” Liv shot her youngest daughter a scolding look. “Subject change.”
“It’s fine. Really. I understand why people are curious about it. And yes.” I looked at January. “I have spent lots of time with Queen Anne. We get on well.”
“Surreal. That’s very surreal,” she said. I supposed to her it was.
“Subject change,” Lily repeated her mother’s words.
“I know a way to get to know your young man.” Nate pointed a knife at me, and I almost took a step back.
“He’s not my young man.” Lily gritted her teeth. “Sebastian is myfriend.”
“Sorry. You’ve never brought a malefriendhome before. I’m struggling to readjust my perspective.” Nate lowered the knife but smirked, even though the amusement didn’t reach his eyes. “Usually, I hate the blokes my daughters bring home. Dad prerogative.”
“Absolutely.” I felt agreeing was the best thing to do since he was holding a weapon.
“Dad—”
“Sebastian gets it.”
I gave Lily another reassuring look.
“Anyway, as I was saying … let’s play Would You Rather.”
“Oh yes. Genius idea, Dad.” January held a fist out to her father, and he reached over to bump it with his own.
“Um, no.” Lily shook her head.
“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun,” Liv agreed.
Bemused, I queried, “What’s Would You Rather?”
“A game Nate and I started playing when we first dated and then it became a family game. Here, we’ll start.” She nudged her husband. “Would you rather readTheIliadfor the rest of your life or not read at all?”
“TheIliad.”
“Really?” Jan asked. “TheIliad? It’s like five million pages long and barely understandable.”
“It’s better than not having anything to read. And if you concentrate, there are some interesting stories in that poem.”
“What poem?”
“TheIliad.”
“That’s a poem?”
Liv pointed a spatula at her youngest. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
“What? What did I say? I’m not a history student. I’m a fashion student.” She gestured to her rainbow confection.
Until Lily told me her sister was doing a BA in fashion, I didn’t even know that was a course Edinburgh offered.
“Did you make that?” I asked.
“I make most of my clothes.”
“That’s really clever.”
