Page 140 of The Perfect Mistake

“Why is your sister not here?”

Nate and Alec exchange a brief look. “I don’t believe you invited her, Father,” Nate says.

“She has a standing invitation. She knows that,” David says.

I have to bite my tongue not to interject.

“She has a husband now,” Alec says. “She might be inclined to spend the holiday with his family… especially after you decided not to come to their wedding party.”

David leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. He looks from Nate to Alec, thick eyebrows drawn down low. “Unreasonable,” he says. “She never acted like this before she met the Thompson boy.”

“Gabriel,” Alec says. His voice is unusually sharp. “That’s his name. We don’t have to like Thompson Enterprises to respect the man Connie chose.”

David looks at Alec for a long moment. He chooses to ignore the comment, but I can see that he’s fazed by Alec’s sharpness. “Did you tell her to come?”

“I told her she was welcome,” Alec says. The distinction is clear.

Their dad shakes his head and reaches for his glass of wine. “She hasn’t called me in weeks. I don’t know when she stopped prioritizing her own family.”

Irritation swells inside me. She always prioritizes her family and Contron. Arguably to a fault.

“Maybe she’s waiting for an apology from you,” I respond.

The table goes so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Only Sam is still eating away, using his fork to scoop up potatoes.

“And who,” David says, “asked you?”

Nate shakes his head. “She’s Connie’s best friend. And she’s not wrong.”

Alec has gone perfectly still. He’s staring at his father, and from his profile, I can see the tenseness in his jaw.

But I’m annoyed, too, and I can’t quite let it go. “Yes, I am Connie’s friend, and I have been for years. She married someone you don’t approve of,” I say. “That’s okay. Kids shouldn’t live for their parents, but from what I’ve seen, you’ve forced all your children to.”

The words just pour out of me. It’s the frustration, driven by my own uncertainties about Alec and me, and about me and Connie, and I just need to stand up to someone.

But in the deafening silence that follows… maybe it shouldn’t have been Alec’s dad. And yet, I can’t find it in me to regret the words.

David’s face twists with anger. But Alec lifts a hand in his dad’s direction before the older man can speak.

“No,” Alec orders. “You don’t say a single harsh word to her, or anything else not appropriate for the dinner table. We’ll continue this conversation later. Just you and me.”

David looks at Nate like he’s expecting backup. But Alec’s younger brother only shrugs. You got yourself into this one.

“Fine,” David says. But his voice exudes displeasure. “I suppose we’ll just keep eating, then. Where’s the server with more cranberry sauce?”

Silence settles around the table. I run a hand over Sam’s back reassuringly, only to meet Alec’s. He’s already put a large hand there. His fingers curve over mine, squeezing once, hidden behind Sam’s form.

“That sounded mean,” Sam says. He’s chewing his turkey and looking around the table with bright eyes. “Isabel is Daddy’s girlfriend, and she’s nice. We play superheroes.”

I want to bury my head in my hands.

Nate chuckles behind his glass of wine.

And Alec, he just looks straight at his dad. “Later,” he repeats. There’s no brokering with the tone of his voice. He’s with family, but he’s also Contron’s CEO, and the man his father always schooled him to be.

Dinner doesn’t last much longer.

The kids’ patience runs thin, and Nate suggests we go into the den. I end up on the floor between the children, trying to put together an old puzzle we’ve found with an image of a seventeenth-century ship. It’s a little hard, but the kids don’t seem to mind, at least not yet.

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