“You still think I can’t see through your bullshit? Babe, I’ve practically known you since were in diapers.”
“You think I wanted this? I didn’t plan it, and as for my little confession at the bar the other night, my brain couldn’t catch up with my mouth. I was never supposed to say thatout loud.”
“I can’t believe I’m finding this out from someone other than my best friend! I should be the first person you tell when your pussy gets the sweats for a guy.”
“You have a really interesting way with words, they really paint a picture.”
“Eh, it’s a gift. Listen, Kill has his charms, but he chews up girls and spits them back out again quicker than you can blink. I just don’t want to see you another notch on his bedpost.”
“You don’t have to worry about me, Fi. Me and Killian are world’s apart, I mean, could you imagine?” I laugh it off, pretending her words don’t strike a cord because I’d be lying if I said the thought of being a conquest to him hadn’t crossed my mind. Why else would he be interested in me?
I hear my father calling my name from downstairs and I groan. “Fi, I’ve gotta go, I’m being summoned. I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay. Love ya, babe. Happy Thanksgiving!”
“Love you too, Happy Thanksgiving.”
She signs off with a kiss before hanging up, and after checking my appearance once more, I head downstairs, finding my father in the living room.
“Do I meet with your approval now?” I ask, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in my voice.
My father’s eyes sweep over me from head to toe, his face never changing. “Much better.”
Not wanting to be around my father any more than I have to, I head through to the kitchen/diner and start setting the dining table while my mother hovers over the stove like the perfect little housewife my father has moulded her to be.
“Thanks, sweetie,” she says over her shoulder with a smile.
“No problem.”
There’s a heavy knock at the front door, signalling the first of my father’s guests.
“Kaia, get the door would you?” my father calls from the living room, despite being closer to the front door than I am.
“Kaia, it’s nice to see you again,” Sheriff Collins says when I pull open the door.
I force a smile. “Likewise, Sheriff Collins.”
“Please call me Barry.”
“Barry,” I correct, widening the door and stepping aside to allow him through.
His wife, Susan greets me with a loose hug and a peck on the cheek as she follows her husband into the house.
I direct them into the living room where my father is and escape to the kitchen while they chat to finish setting up.
A short while later, another knock at the door echoes through the house and I groan.
All I need to do is get through dinner and in a few short hours, it will all be over, I remind myself. But those few hours are going to feel like a lifetime, I’m sure of it.
Dinner, as I expect, drags along at a snail’s pace, and every time my eyes flick up to the clock on the wall opposite me, it never seems to change. Is it broken?
My father leads the conversation around the table, dipping in and out of politics where I conveniently switch off because god forbid he leavesthosediscussions for office hours. He tells jokes which are only ever used to charm his colleagues and shares stories from years gone by, some even including me and I have to force myself not to scoff at every single one.
It’s a charade.
Everything is fabricated to make it look like we’re the perfect loving family and I hate it because not a single word of it rings true. My father spends more time at work than he does with his family, which is a blessing in itself because at least if he’s there, he’s not picking apart every aspect of my life and my appearance and making me feel like shit. My mother, as kind as she is, lacks any backbone when it comes to my father, plays along with his bullshit, hanging off of every word and fails to stand up for me in the moments I need her by my side the most.
I guess that’s why I’m warming to Killian so much. He stands up for me and it feels good to have someone fighting my corner for once and I won’t lie and say it doesn’t send a thrill through me defying my father.
