Page 81 of Pity Present

“That depends entirely on whether or not you’ve taken my point,” I tell her.

“I have.”

“Then I assume you’ll want to leave right away so you can go make things right with Henry. Maybe accept his proposal with a little more grace?”

My sister side-eyes me like she’s considering it, but then she says, “I’ll go home when I’m good and ready.”

Ellen has always been stubborn, but this is taking things too far. “Why wouldn’t you go now and put Henry out of his misery? I’m sure he’s dying to make up with you.”

“Because I have something to do here first,” she says.

“You mean, interfere in my life.”

Ellen turns to me with a look of great concern. “You’re my sister, Molly. I care what happens to you. It’s my job to look out after you.”

“No, it’s not,” I tell her. “And it’s time you transfer some of this motherly concern onto real children. Henry’s children.”

“Maybe,” she says. “But first I’m going to meet this coffee boy.”

Hurray.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

BLAKE

Being that Molly had to work, I decide to attend today’s group activity by myself. It turns out it’s a charades tournament. And while I like watching charades—because come on, it’s hysterical—I hate playing.

Hoping to stay out of the action, I find a corner of the ballroom to sit in. Maybe if I keep my head down, no one will notice me.

Trina moves toward the fifteen people who have shown up and announces, “We need to break into four groups. The winner of the best two out of three will play the winner of the other group. The losers will play as well so we can determine all four places.”

A woman I haven’t talked to yet raises her hand. “What’s the prize for first place?”

Trina tells her, “You get to eat dinner with our first bonafide couple of the event!” The group doesn’t seem overly enamored with the idea, so Trina continues, “You can ask them all kinds of questions about how they knew they found the person they wanted to exclusively get to know better.”

All I can think is, who in the world wants to eat with Oliviaand Ronald? I mean, I’d seriously throw the game just to get out of that. Trina starts to create four teams but then realizes she’s one person short. Instead of filling in herself, she looks around the room and points at me. “Blake, you’re on team three!”

Scooting my chair closer to the wall, I tell her, “I’m not playing. I’m just watching.”

Her eyes narrow menacingly before she orders, “No, you’re playing. You’re here in the room which means you’re participating in today’s activity.”

I suddenly wonder if people wind up dating each other out of sheer fear of what Trina will do to them if they don’t. Standing up, I slowly walk toward the group the matchmaker has declared mine.

When I get there, I introduce myself. “I’m Blake,” I tell them.

The woman who wants to eat dinner with Olivia and Ronald as much as I do says, “I’m Maya.” She points to the other pair. “Charlie and Sheryl.” Without bothering to lower her voice, she adds, “I think they might be on the way to being the next couple of the event.” Little does she know that Molly and I have already claimed that slot.

I nod my head toward Charlie, a ginger with a gigantic forehead, and then to Sheryl, who is a tiny mouse of a woman. She can’t even be close to being five feet tall. “Hey,” I tell them before confessing, “I’m really bad at this game.”

Charlie waggles his enormous head back and forth cockily, while saying, “Don’t worry, Iowncharades.”

“Maybe you can play on your own then,” I joke.

He doesn’t think I’m funny and he tells me as much. “Ha, ha. I can’t guess at my own performances.”

I really should have not come to this today. But then, remembering why I’m here, I decide to make the most of it. “What do you do for a living, Charlie?”

“I’m a contortionist.”

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