He looked around. Everyone looked back at him blankly, except for one of Sana’s bridesmaids, who said, “It’s actually not that complicated,” as she walked by.
“It’s actually not that complicated?” Sana repeated in a mocking tone.
The bridesmaid, who Scott guessed was Sana’s oft-mentioned best friend Ava, mocked her back before leaning over to hug her. “Bitch.”
“Little miss MBA,” Sana said, squeezing her.
Maryam flapped her hand at them and said to Carver, “But what I don’t understand is the debt aspect.”
Carver began explaining this to her while the bridesmaids finished serving the food. Scott spent three seconds paying attention before his mind began to wander. It was a beautiful spring night in the lower Hudson Valley, and a full complementof crickets was singing in the bushes. He ate some of his food, and found that it was actually very good.
Scott’s phone buzzed in his pocket occasionally with texts from his bandmates, or friends who didn’t know he was out of town this weekend. He’d been terrible about answering since he arrived; 143 unread texts had piled up, though a lot of this was from group chats. He just didn’t really feel like looking at or dealing with anything from the people who made up his normal life. He felt like he’d traveled back in time and shouldn’t be reachable there.
He tuned back in when he heard Maryam say, “So what do you enjoy most about it?”
Scott glanced at Carver, who took a moment to respond, then another moment, and another. Now everyone was looking at him, while he looked at the table. The kids filled the silence by starting back up with “Eff you, pay me! Eff you, pay me!” until Nora shushed them.
“Uh,” Carver finally said.
“It can be very exciting,” Lillian answered for him. “Right now, it’s been a little stressful for us with the deals we have underway, but it’ll work out. It always works out.”
“Didn’t you say a minute ago that sometimes it doesn’t?” Scott said to her in an undertone, intentionally being a little bit of an asshole.
Lillian turned to him with a wide smile and a dangerous gleam in her eye. “What are you, a court reporter?”
Carver sagged back in his chair. Scott ate some of his salmon and glanced up the table at Letty, who comically widened and then lowered her eyes as if to say,I know.
“Carver’s very young for a managing director,” Doug said. “One of the youngest at his firm.”
Carver looked up at his father, nodded, then got to his feet. “Excuse me, I’m gonna, uh…” He glanced at his mother. “What’s your preferred euphemism, again?”
Nora swallowed a sip of wine and said, “Little boys’ room is fine.”
Carver made a face and said “I’m gonna go piss,” before exiting. There were scattered giggles and a loud laugh from Chip.
“I think Scott has one of the more interesting careers at the table,” Nora declared, suddenly imperious in the wake of this disobedience.
Everyone looked at Scott, who demurred, “No, no, not really… Lillian, doesn’t that also makeyouone of the youngest managing directors?”
“Ooh, Scott, you feminist,” Lillian purred. “No, I’m not quite as impressive, I’m thirty-eight.”
Several people looked at her in surprise. She pantomimed delivering an injection into her face.
“Do you think you two will have kids at some point?” Maryam said.
“Mom,” Sana said, shutting her eyes. “Please.”
Doug and Nora looked conspicuously away from Lillian, suddenly the picture of nonchalance.
“No, it’s fine,” Lillian said, leaning back in her chair and flapping her hand. “We’re considering it soon, I’ve been looking at surrogates. Maybe Q4, or Q1 next year, we pull the trigger.”
“Surrogates?” Nora said.
“Correct. I outsource my manufacturing.”
“Oh, but it’s really a wonderful experience, honestly.”
“I’m sure,” Lillian said with a grin. “I’ll be generous and give it to someone else.”
