Page 54 of The Secret to a Southern Wedding

Dinner at Ms. Kemp’s house was as awkward as Cyril expected it to be. His dad and Linda were cute and loving with each other, but that wasn’t what made things uncomfortable. Awkwardness hit him in the gut every time they mentioned them all being a family or how much they enjoyed knowing Cyril and Imani had gotten over the initial disagreement and were getting along so well before the wedding in two weeks.

Cyril had never wanted his dad to stop talking as much as he did during dinner. Imani wasn’t making the situation easier. She seemed content with the entire thing. Laughing at Cyril’s dad’s jokes and agreeing whenever their parents talked about their hopes for them all getting along in the future. She ate the food as if it were the most delicious roast she’d ever had in her life and gave no indication that they’d kissed or connected in other ways.

“How about we play a game after dinner?” Ms. Kemp asked as everyone finished their meal.

Imani’s hand jerked and the forkful of peas she’d held scattered to her plate. She frowned at her mom. “You want to play a game?”

Ms. Kemp nodded and smiled at Cyril and then his father. “No need for the night to end and playing a game is a lot more fun than just watching television. Don’t you think so, Preston?”

“Let’s do it, baby,” Preston readily agreed.

Imani slowly put down her fork. Cyril could sense the tension radiating off her. He wasn’t that interested in playing a game, but he wouldn’t have expected that particular response. Considering how their parents were trying to make tonight the perfect gathering he wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d asked them to do arts and crafts or sing a song after dinner.

“You really want to play games?” Imani asked sounding astonished.

Linda stared back at Imani with a cheerful smile and innocent look. Cyril couldn’t tell if she didn’t know or didn’t care about the sudden change with Imani. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Imani was still for a second before her body relaxed and a bright smile covered her face. “You know what. Let’s do it. We’re working our way to being one big happy family, right? Game night is perfect.” She looked over at Cyril. “Don’t you think it’s perfect?”

No, he did not think this was perfect. The entire dinner felt like he was being forced to put on a sweater two sizes too small. The fit wasn’t right. He still was for his dad and Linda getting married. But sitting there acting as if he felt no attraction for Imani and thinking that he had to spend the rest of their lives ignoring that everything in him wanted to reach over and rub the tension out of her shoulders made him want to call the wedding off himself.

“Cyril? You good?” his dad asked. The excitement and joy in his dad’s face stopped Cyril from voicing the disagreement in his heart. What was he going to do? Ruin the dinner, his dad’s happiness, and shout out that he was what? Infatuated with Imani? Not happening.

“Sure, let’s do it,” he said in a forced cheerful tone.

His dad nodded enthusiastically. “Good thing I bought a new pack of Uno cards!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a package of the card game.

“I love playing Uno,” Ms. Kemp said.

Imani let out a humorless laugh. “You sure do. I’ll clean off the table.” She pushed back from the table and stood.

“I’ll help,” Cyril said. They grabbed their plates and their parents’ and took them to the kitchen.

Once in there he gave Imani a sideways look. “What’s the deal with Uno?”

She scraped the food off the plates into the trash with stiff, jerky movements. “There’s no deal.” She nearly slammed the plate on the counter.

“Umm...the way you’re trying to kill that plate says differently.” Cyril took the remaining plates from her and cleared the food into the trash.

Imani crossed her arms under her breasts. “It’s just...” She sighed. “Nothing. It’s like you said, we’re supporting our parents.”

She turned and walked out of the kitchen without another word. Puzzled, Cyril put the plates in the dishwasher and followed her out. Their parents had pushed the rest of the stuff on the table to the side and his dad shuffled the cards.

“Y’all ready?” Preston asked.

Imani sat across from her mother. Her gaze remained focused on her mom. “I’m ready. Mom, you good?”

Her mother raised her brows. “I’m great. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Cyril looked at his dad, who gave a quick shake of his head. So, his dad had no clue about the change in the mood either. This was a thing between Imani and her mom. He would stay out of it. He sat down next to Imani. His dad finished shuffling the deck then handed the cards to Linda.

“You can have first deal, baby,” he said.

Ms. Kemp gave him a flirty look. “Thank you, sweetie.”

Cyril barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. He glanced at Imani who did roll her eyes. Their gazes locked. He raised his brow and gave her a “you good?” look. The tension around her eyes and shoulders faded and the hard lines around her mouth softened into a smile. Reaching over beneath the table he placed his hand over the one clenched into a fist on her lap and gave a reassuring squeeze. Maybe he shouldn’t touch her, but when her hand unclenched, and she returned his squeeze before pulling away, he couldn’t regret the move. The moment was over quickly, but the warm imprint of her soft fingers against his lingered.

The first game came down to a back-and-forth between Imani and Preston. Imani eventually snagged the win, hitting his dad with a draw four and changing the color before he could drop his final card. Neither he or her mom had lost as many cards during the second game, and even though Linda tried to change the color to force Imani to draw it didn’t matter.

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