Page 42 of Laugh

Deborah passes the salad bowl across the table to me and I’m disappointed that I have to pull my hand away from Haddie to grab it. “Thank you, Deborah.”

“Oh, please, I prefer Debbie.” Her smile is forced, and I know that she and I will never move past false pleasantries. I have a hunch that if I were sitting next to the other daughter at this table, her attitude would be significantly different.

All I can do is hum under my breath, refusing to acquiesce to her request. Haddie didn’t fully explain why she asked me to call her Deborah, but the moment she called her Harriet, I knew that was the reason.

We all dig in and eat with easy conversation. The brothers ask more questions about my team while Deborah and Amber chat quietly with each other. Haddie is silent for the most part, allowing them to pester me with questions. It doesn’t take long for me to realize that she’s not intentionally staying quiet so they can get to know me. It’s because they actually don’t converse with her.

There have been no ‘How’s work been going?’ or ‘What’s new with you?’ questions. I’m sure not all of them ignore her intentionally, but there’s a lot of disinterest and indifferent attitudes when it comes to Haddie.

I don’t like it.

Clearing my throat, I lean back and place my arm across the back of her chair. “I’m going to have to set up a dinner with my parents soon. My mom was very excited to finally get to meet you after all the things I told her about you.”

Haddie looks surprised. The fork she’s holding pauses halfway to her mouth as she looks at me. “Really? I’d love to meet them, but I didn’t know you had told her much about me.”

Her family is curiously quiet as I continue my conversation with her, ignoring them. Brushing a strand of hair from her cheek, I nod slowly. “Sure did. I shared how often I put my foot in my mouth around you during our first few run-ins. Actually, when I explained what you were doing for some of my guys–”

Alexander interrupts me. “What is she doing?” I don’t answer him right away. I hold up a finger, letting him know I’ll get back to him in a moment. Frankly, he could askherwhat she’s doing, but I know it’ll take a while to retrain them on hownotto be dicks.

“She’s the one who knocked me upside the head and pointed out I was dropping the ball where you were concerned. Oh! I need you to find the safest story for her to read because she’s absolutely fascinated by what you do.” Chuckling, I shake my head, remembering how mom’s eyes got huge when I showed her all of Haddie’s stories online. “Mom is very much looking forward to discussing it with you.”

Haddie’s giggle erupts out of her. “I can only imagine howthatconversation will go.”

Amber’s scoff pulls Haddie’s attention away from me. “Gross. Can we not talk about your weird sex books? I’m trying to enjoy dinner.”

Sighing, Donny shoots her a pleading look. “Please stop, Amber. But she’s right, pumpkin. I don’t think your little hobby is an appropriate topic.”

I’m surprised by his referral to her writing as a ‘little hobby’. I spent over an hour clicking on every single one of her books to read the synopsis. Not only does she have dozens of them published, but the reviews and ratings are filled with praise for how well written they are. She also has a huge following, a few thousand ratings on a lot of them.

“I can understand not discussing the details of the stories, but have you seen how well she’s doing? Hannah Banana is incredibly popular. I wouldn’t call it just a little hobby,” I defend.

Haddie sucks in a breath when I confront her dad, then asks, “You looked me up?”

“What’s Hannah Banana?” Deborah asks.

Haddie turns to her, surprised by the question. “Uhh… my pen name?”

“You don’t know her pen name?” I ask, then look around at everyone and immediately know they had no idea. “Have any of you actually looked into it? She’s incredibly successful. Happy probably doesn’t even need her day-to-day job at the school.”

Haddie’s pout is adorable. “But I like my job there.”

Her father doesn’t seem pleased with the direction we’re heading in, i.e., being called out for not knowing something major about his youngest child.

“Look, I’m sure it’s all fun and games that people are interested in it, but it’s not something we love around here,” he tries to explain to me. Haddie’s brothers actually look embarrassed by Donny’s words, Jonathon going so far as to wince.

“Dad,” she whispers. I’m not sure exactly how it changed, but she went from being flattered that I shared how much I knew about her, to caving in on herself. “I know you’ve got ideas about the things I write, but if you’d let me explain what I actually do…”

Her voice trails off when she sees the look on his face. With a quick glance toward the other two women, I seethe at the small smirks gracing their lips. Matthew, Jonathon, and Alexander are all silently sitting, staring at anythingbutmy girl.

Donald Byer loses every ounce of respect I would have considered giving him when his lip curls. “What?ShouldI be proud of you? Proud that you’re writing about animal sex and monsters and orgies? I’m not proud of you for that. I’m embarrassed.”

Standing up, I set my napkin across my plate and draw everyone’s eye to me. “You should be proud. I haven’t even had the opportunity to read any of them yet, and I’m fucking proud of her.”

Looking down at Haddie, it doesn’t seem like her father’s words have affected her. Not until I see the small tremble of her lower lip, do I decide it’s time for us to leave.

Making eye contact with Deborah, I say, “Dinner was delicious, Deborah. I’m not sure when we’ll be ready to repeat it. Amber?” I wait for her to look at me with hopeful eyes and find a bit of joy as I extinguish it. “I wasn’t ever interested. Not for one second.” Then, I turn to her brothers, and they know that my next words are going to sting. “You three should be ashamed of yourselves. Sitting there letting your baby sister get treated like this. I’ve been here for less than an hour and can see the amount of toxicity she, I assume, has dealt with for years.”

I wait for them to meet my eyes. They seem to be decent guys, so I soften my next two words.

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