"And finish all of your food. We don't waste in this house."
The couple of times that she would cook for all of us she would normally cook the same dish: chicken pot pie. To say it tasted gross was an understatement. I had never had the meal from anyone else, so I couldn’t tell if I didn’t like the way she cooked it or if I didn’t like it in general. The twins also thought it tasted bad, but they tolerated it better than I ever could.
"Why do you keep making the same dish that you know he hates?" Emerson asked with a scowl. "You know he isn’t going to eat it and then act flabbergasted when he does not eat it.”
"Because that's all she can fucking cook," Easton muttered.
Macy’s jaw clenched and her fists were balled so tight they were shaking. Closing her eyes, she took another large breath. "Just a couple more months."
Emerson spoke coolly. "A couple more months until this new guy leaves you?"
Emerson's comment made Easton and I chuckle, but it obviously did not have the same effect on my aunt. She was seething at the offensive comments that were being thrown her way.
"You all think you’re so funny, don’t you?" Macy shouted. I flinched at her outburst, but my siblings remained unaffected. "Well guess what, you can all kiss any plans you had goodbye because you're punished."
I raised my hand like we were in a classroom. "I thought I was already—"
"I don’t need your extra," Aunt Macy cut me off. I lowered my hand.
Then there was a knock on the door and her attitude did a 180. She put on a smile and perked up. "That must be him!"
Easton was twirling his finger in a circle by his head while mouthing the word ‘crazy’ in relation to Macy as she ran to the door. She was fixing her clothes as she moved, wanting to look her best for the man on the other side of the door. In my opinion, she needed a lot more time to look decent than she gave herself, but whatever.
The door was barely opened before she rushed through and engulfed him in a hug, and I heard the deep voice greet my aunt with care. He sounded truly happy to be here. I wasn’t sure if that would be the case after dinner was over.
She invited him in and that was when I could finally see the man. When I say he was tall, I truly meanttall. This guy was like a giant. A hot giant, at that.
My aunt put her hand in his and introduced us. "Kids, this is my boyfriend, Daniel. Daniel, these are my nephews and niece."
Daniel waved at us. "Nice to meet you. You three seem like lovely kids."
"Let’s see how long you think that for." Easton whispered before chuckling to himself. My aunt glared at him, but Daniel hadn’t caught what Easton had said.
Macy then led Daniel to the dining table and had him sit down. We followed behind and grabbed plates for ourselves to fix our own food. Macy did the same and she put a generous amount of food on it for Daniel before making her own. Once we were all sat at the table, she put on a smile as if this was a normal routine. Easton picked up his fork and started digging into his food like he hadn't eaten in days.
My aunt cleared her throat three times before she caught my brother's attention. No one else was acting like a starved animal but him. I could see Macy’s lip trembling as she held back the urge to lash out at him.
"Easton, we have to say grace," she said in the calmest tone she could muster up.
"Oh," Easton said with his mouth full. For someone who agreed that the food was never cooked well, he sure seemed eager to eat it.
My aunt was and always had called herself religious, but she liked to pick and choose when she would show that side of her. She only practiced it when she wanted to make herself look good. We had never prayed before dinner, but tonight it was as if we did it every evening.
We all joined hands. I was unlucky enough to be sitting directly across from my aunt, so it was her hand and Easton'sthat I got the pleasure of holding. Aunt Macy hesitated before locking hands with mine, I think it genuinely repulsed her. She had to hide it, though. Couldn't have Daniel thinking she hated her nephew.
Oh, wait.
"Dear Lord, please bless this food that you have prepared for us," she prayed. "I want to thank you for everything you have done for me and my beautiful family. I thank you for my lovely niece and nephews, and I thank you for this amazing man who is sitting next to me. In Jesus' name we pray, amen."
It was silent as we started eating the food cooked for us. The only sound to be heard was the sound of forks clanking against the glass plates and smacking of the lips. I played around with the food because I had no appetite whatsoever. Luckily, I hadn’t put much on my plate to begin with.
"So," Daniel started, "what grade are you kids in?"
Emerson refused to look up from her plate and Easton was too busy scarfing down his food to respond. To spare the awkwardness of no one answering, I did.
"Twelfth."
"All of you?" Daniel looked between us with wide eyes. "That’s awesome, are you triplets?"
