“I should be asking you the same question. Normally, you try to drink as much wine as humanly possible when you visit.”
He shrugs. “I just saw you scanning the room for threats. Maybe I don’t need to be one of them.”
“She also scanned the parking lot,” Gabe adds, but has the decency to look sheepish when I shoot him a look across the table.
Before I have the chance to remind them why I am being so vigilant, Monika pulls the cork out of the wine, and I jump at the sound. The cork only made a quiet pop, nothing like a champagne bottle, but I am pretty sure there was clearance between my bottom and the seat. Scott and Gabe exchange a look as Monika leans in and fills my glass with the dark redliquid, putting her free hand on my shoulder. “Everything is okay. We’re safe. Now, drink up.”
I do as I’m told, and the pinot immediately gets to work loosening my tight shoulders, allowing me to take my first full breath of the day. I raise the glass to take another sip and have to stifle a laugh when Monika swipes a slice from Scott’s box, much to his chagrin.
“To Drew!” she says, pulling the stolen piece of pizza out of Scott’s reach, then raising her glass into the air.
“No!” I blurt, spitting out the wine that I just sipped in the process.
“What?” Monika asks, looking wildly from side to side.
“I already drank some!” I use my napkin to dab at the wine rolling down my chin. “It’s bad luck!”
Scott sighs, and Monika’s eyebrows knit as she ponders my declaration. Even though she swears she doesn’t believe I am cursed, she lowers her glass. “No toast then.”
Scott opens his mouth to protest, but Monika makes a show of taking a huge bite of the piece of Hawaiian pizza she stole from his pie. His frustration with me is easily diverted to her flagrant show of defiance. I give her a thankful smile across the table, and she returns it with a wink.
Maybe it’s the pizza from our childhood, or the wine, or the way we fall right back into old conversations despite the massive elephant in the room, but I eventually relax and find myself truly enjoying their company. I even laugh, the second time since they’ve arrived, as Scott yanks the pizza box away from Monika’s reach when she tries to swipe another slice.
But then the conversation hits a lull, and Monika clears her throat. “Enough chitchat. We have some serious things to discuss.”
My back goes straight as a rod as she looks pointedly at my brother and his husband.
“Not tonight,” Scott says, much to my relief.
I reel as Monika wags her eyebrows, as if she sees his response as a challenge she wants to overcome. While usually neutral in our family arguments over how I am living my life, she seems awfully excited to get this dreaded conversation going.
“Oh, come on,” Monika says in another attempt to rouse the conversation. I shoot her a look of disgust that she promptly waves off. “It’s been a year, and we’ve been very patient. Who knows when we will all be together again?”
Scott remains tight-lipped, but Gabe is failing miserably to contain a grin that has taken over his entire face. For Monika to be bringing up our family drama is a strange role reversal, and for Gabe to besmiling. . .
I look back to Scott for answers, but he just shakes his head and repeats, “Not tonight. We’re celebrating Drew. It can wait.”
“No, it can’t,” Monika declares, and avoids my gaze as I shoot daggers at her across the table.
“Tomorrow, at breakfast,” Gabe affirms, although the way he is bouncing out of his seat is reminiscent of a kid who was just told that they are going to Disneyland in the morning.
“Drew and I are opening the store tomorrow, so we need to do this tonight, otherwise we won’t have time to ask our million questions, and trust me, I have a million. Most importantly, when will the nursery be set up? I am running out of room in my closet for all the clothes and diapers I have been stockpiling.”
Oh, that news.
It has been a little over a year since they started the adoption process, but he would have called if there was anything important to share, no matter how much I pushed him away. I’m certain of it. And there is no way he would be here without the baby if they already had a placement. The way Gabe is smiling, though . . .
“How about this?” Scott says, producing a light purple envelope from one of the bags on the chair next to him. My stomach sinks at the sight of it. “Drew opens her present, we have some cake, then we share our news. I’ve seen Drew eyeing the cake box all night, so if she throws a fit after she opens it, we might be able to convince her to stay for the tiramisu.”
I eye the purple envelope suspiciously, but nod in agreement, just to be safe. If there is baby news, I want to hear it.
“This is from all of us,” my brother says, and hands the envelope over in my direction.
The return of Scott’s tentative smile confirms what I already know: Whatever is in the mysterious envelope is something that I will refuse.
Either that, or maybe there isn’t really any baby news at all, and he’s just using every tool in his arsenal to get his way. The happiness I felt just moments ago rapidly dissipates.
“How about you open your present, I share our news, and then we celebrate both things with cake,” Scott offers, noting my hesitation.
