“Bonjour hi!” A giant of a man greets me at the entrance, his cheery demeanor a stark contrast to his nearly scary appearance.
“We have a group reservation under Sophie Côté?”
“Ah, yes, they’re already here.”
I buy myself a beer before the man escorts me to our karaoke room. The booming bass of music erupts from the doors we pass down the hallway, until we stop in front of a door that is clearlyours. Our friend Avery’s voice, belting an Adele song, echoes through it.
“Have a good evening!” the man chimes before leaving me to it.
I burst into the room in the middle of Avery’s song; she doesn’t stop singing but shoots me a big smile and doubles down in intensity while everyone else in the room whoops out to greet me.
Her smile turns to a knitted brow when she realizes I’m alone, but she doesn’t stop her song.
Tania is sitting on Nolan’s lap in one corner. Next to them, Logan marvels at his partner and the mother of his child’s singing. Sophie and my brother, Will, are seated on the other side of the room, Sophie’s ridiculously long legs propped up on Will’s lap. Both their concerned gazes don’t leave me as I sit next to Sophie and wait until Avery’s song is done, slowly sipping on my beer.
When Avery huddles back down against Logan with a bashful grin, the questions begin.
“Where’s Karan?”
“Is he running behind?”
“He didn’t bail, did he?” My brother’s question holds a tone of accusation.
Will stares at me, his eyes hard. He’ll hate my answer.
“He did, in fact, bail.”
My reply elicits a groan from pretty much everyone in the room.
“What is it this time?” Tania asks. “Don’t tell me his mommy called for help for something tech-related.”
When all I give her is a deadpan stare, she shakes her head in exasperation.
“This man! Seriously, this man!”“I mean, I can’t be too angry,” I say, although I don’t know why I’m defending him. “She’s still got a round of treatment to go, and—”
“She’s basically out of the woods, though,” Nolan interrupts. “I’d be upset if Tania bailed on me for such a cop-out reason.”
“Yeah…” The room listens with rapt attention as I retell the evening’s events.
“How long has it been like this?” Logan asks as he readjusts his glasses. “I remember last spring when we went to Tania’s family’s sugar shack, you guys had an argument then, too.”
“That’s when the in-laws moved to the city,” Will adds, sharing a concerned look with me.
He loves his brother-in-law, but he’s also privy to how much Karan’s behaviour has been affecting me these past several months.
“Yeah,” I confirm. “Karan’s dad retired. And with the whole cancer thing, I think they just really wanted to be closer to their son.”
“Does she still keep showing up unannounced or making plans with the twins without your approval?” Sophie asks.
“Yep.” I pop the ‘p’ and take a sip of beer. “Seriously, I love this woman, but now that she doesn’t live six hours away, I’m realizing how… intense she is with Karan.”
With my estranged parents, Karan’s family is more important to me than I ever expected for in-laws. Sophie and Avery constantly rave about the beautiful mother-daughter connection they have. Even when we were on speaking terms, my mother and I never had that.
Love, it seemed, was always conditional in our household.
“How intense?” Tania asks.
I sigh and lean forward in my seat. “Well. For one, it’s not only with Karan. It’s with the kids, too. It’s hard to explain without seeing it. And ever since the job thing…”
