Page 97 of Falling

“Thank you for inviting me, Mr. and Mrs. Davis,” I say.

“Oh, just call us Portia and Ben. There’s really no need for the formalities.” She turns to Miles, who has been avoiding eye contact with her. “Miles, love. It’s good to see you.”

“You too.” His words don’t mean to sound harsh, but I can tell he’s struggling to keep it together. He smiles down at me, and the line between his eyebrows smooths out. “Wren got you a present.”

Of course he’s going to try to throw me under the bus to avoiding talking to his mom. I clear my throat as Portia smiles at me. “It's only something small,” I say, handing her the gift bag.

She beams at me, her mouth forming the same dimples as Miles. “Oh, that's so thoughtful. Thank you, Wren.”

I'm about to respond, but before I do, a tall, curly-haired womanI recognize as his sister Clara comes around the corner in a pink tracksuit. Maybe Iamtoo dressed up. Her face lights up when she sees us. She pushes past her parents and pulls Miles into a hug.

“I didn’t think you’d show up,” she says through a grin when she pulls apart from him. He shrugs and looks over at me, his eyes wide. He warned me about his sister, but all I can see is someone who is excited to see her little brother. “Wren! I’ve heard a lot about you. I didn’t know you’d be as pretty as he said.”

I laugh awkwardly. “Thank you. You’re stunning.”

Clara’s face gets impossibly brighter. “You’re flattering me already,” she coos, flicking her hair behind her shoulder as she looks at Miles. “She’s perfect.”

“I’ve been trying to tell her that, but she’s allergic to compliments,” Miles says, squeezing my hand again, and I squeeze his harder.

“Why don’t you take off your outdoor clothes and come into the kitchen with us girls?” Portia asks, smiling wide.

Everyone else slips away, and I can still hear Clara talking about me and making fun of Miles. I start to unzip my coat, but Miles stops me, pulling it down for me. I watch him work slowly at the zip at my front, his eyes focused on it. He comes behind me and pulls on the sleeves.

“You don’t have to do that,” I say, almost laughing at this gesture.

“I want to.”

I smile. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I will be, Wrenny.”

He hangs up my coat with the others, and I get a peek of some of the baby pictures hung on the wall. I start to walk in the direction of Clara and Portia before Miles’s hand grabs mine.

He squeezes, and I squeeze back.

This whole time, I’ve been worrying about what’s going to happenwith Miles instead of worrying about what’s going to happen if I’m left alone with his family. He gave me a small rundown on the way over, but I don’t exactly have much experience with meeting my boyfriend’s parents.

Clara sits on the kitchen counter, her legs swinging and her tall stature overcrowding the kitchen, while her mom chops vegetables on the other counter. Her head shoots up when she sees me.

“You and Miles seem very happy together,” she says, smiling like a maniac. She’s talking to me like we’ve known each other for years, and the thought of her brother being happy clearly makes her happy. “I can tell by the way he looks at you. I know he’s a little unhinged, but I’m glad you’re able to handle him.”

She slips off the counter, and I laugh awkwardly. “I definitely made him work for it, but he’s grown on me,” I admit.

“Atta girl. It’s all about the chase.” Clara laughs. “Sometimes, he needs to be dealt with that way though. He thinks he can get what he wants without working for it. It’s a hockey player thing.”

“Ay. Milesisa hard worker in some respects, but sometimes, his heart is a little misplaced,” his mom says, shaking her head lightly.

“What do you mean?” I ask as casually as I can. I’ve wanted to know more about Miles’s family and his childhood, but I haven’t wanted to push him.

She sighs, pausing her vegetable cutting, looking off into the distance. “He loves a lot, and he loveshard. He always has, and he always will. Sometimes, he can't let go of things and he latches on. It consumes him.” She sighs. “I'm sure that is partly my fault.”

“Mom,” Clara presses, rolling her eyes as if they've had this conversation before. I stay quiet, letting the new information about Miles settle in.

“Enough talk about him,” Portia says, wafting her knife around. “You girls are going to have to help me dish out this food.”

Eating Christmas Evedinner with Miles’s family was a lot less awkward than I thought it would be. Although Miles doesn’t talk much to his mom, everyone else is getting along great. Miles’s dad is a man of few words, but he drops these sarcastic one-liners that I know Miles and Clara both take after. Clara basically carries the conversations on her back with her work horror stories.

She works on low-budget films with her friends and enters them into festivals. You wouldn’t believe how many of her stories end with getting booked for a job, but it turns out to be some weirdos wanting to film a porno. Even with the inappropriate jokes she makes, neither one of her parents seems to bat an eye at the candor. If something like this was said around my mom, she would have had a stroke.

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