Meals at my family’s table were nothing like this. There would be four of us if my father joined me and my grandparents, but that was rare. More commonly, it was just me and my grandfather, because my grandmother wouldn’t be feeling well and would eat in her bedroom.
I read a lot of books at the dinner table. And the lunch and breakfast tables.
I was very well-read at a young age.
I love the Riley dinner table.
Adrianne is warm and welcoming, Mason is serious but good-humored, and Graham and Margot are fun and easy to be around, as always.
Carver, Jefferson, and their significant others, Kaelyn and Harlow, bring an entirely different energy, though. Carver and Kaelyn practically finish one another's sentences. Apparently,they’ve known each other since they were small children and have been destined for one another from day one. It only takes about five minutes in their presence to understand that.
Jefferson and Harlow are a whole different thing. They bicker and tease and banter with one another, and with everyone else at the table. Harlow rolls her eyes a lot, but she also kisses Jefferson a lot.
It’s also obvious that all of them have known one another for a long time and have an easy, strong friendship. That includes Ginny. I’m thrilled she’s seated directly across the table from me, because I can’t stop watching her and soaking up everything she says and does. From her smiles to her hand gestures to the way she looks at and speaks with each of her siblings, this is clearly her favorite group of people.
“Do you have siblings, Everett?” Adrianne asks.
It’s a normal question, especially in a group like this where I’m the lone guy spending the holidays with a big family.
“I don’t,” I say. “Only child.”
“Does your family celebrate Thanksgiving?” Kaelyn asks in the most tactful way to ask the question.
If my parents are dead, or assholes, I can simply say, “No” and that explains why I’m here.
But because this family is so open and warm and nice to be around, I find myself explaining further.
“I was mostly raised by my grandparents, who are both deceased now. My mother and father never married. I grew up in L.A. My mother is an actress, and my father is a movie director and producer. They had a fling, my mother tried to tie my dad down with a pregnancy, which pissed him off, so he took me away from her. They’ve been in and out of each other’s lives, and mine, for nearly thirty years now. They both exhaust me, and since I’m not interested in the movie business, we’ve mostly parted ways. I don’t know what they each do for the holidays. It’sbeen nearly fifteen years since I saw either of them around this time of the year. It’s been ten years since I saw my father at all—he does email and text occasionally—and at least ten months since I saw my mother. She also texts sporadically. Neither of them know or care at all about green energy, but they are quite happy that I make a lot of money, and never mention their names in any interviews or articles.”
There is a long silence at the table as they all stare at me.
Graham knows most of this and he’s just shaking his head with a smile that says,I can’t believe you spilled that.
I meet Ginny’s eyes.
She lifts her glass. “Well, damn, Everett, Jefferson thoughthewas going to be the most interesting guy here today with his big State Championship football win. Way to take the wind out of his sails.”
I laugh softly. “Sorry,” I say to Jefferson.
He shakes his head. “No worries.”
Harlow leans in. “Can I ask who your mom is?”
I expected that. “Gwen Winters.”
They all gasp.
“Yourmomis Gwen Winters?” Harlow asks.
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know Gwen Winters had children,” Adrianne says.
“Exactly,” I say. “My dad’s legal team was really good.”
“Wow.”
“Who’s your dad?” Carver asks. “If you can say.”
