Page 91 of True Sight
“What do you want to know?” I’m surprised to hear Margaret say with great confidence. My head swings to look at her, eyes wide with confusion.
“How long have you been seeing each other?” Bailey asks, completely relaxed now that dinner is served.
“Please, child’s play,” Malcolm scoffs under his breath and shoots his eyes from Bailey to me. When his lips curl up into a slick smirk, I know what’s coming. “So how good is Connie boy in bed?”
“Malcolm,” Kolbi groans.
“So much for best behavior,” Hank sighs and crosses his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair.
“Dude, fu—” I’m about to tell him off but Margaret grabs my hand and sets it on top of the table for everyone to see. Eyes glance between our hands and the two of us as she speaks.
“We’ve been together for about three months. We’ve been keeping it between us because we wanted to enjoy it being our little secret. An extended honeymoon phase, if you will.” She lies with so much ease and confidence that it makes me nervous about what lies she’s told me in the pastthat I believed without second thought. Her thumb starts to rub the back of my hand and she gives me a convincing smile of a girlfriend who’s smitten.
“And to answer your question Malcolm”—she turns and looks him dead in the eyes—“Conrad is anexcellentlover. Always puts me first, never leaves me wanting for more.” I clench my jaw together to stop it from completely detaching from my skull and falling into my mashed potatoes. “Isn’t that right, honey?”
“Uh–y–yeah. Yep. That’s right.” I nod my head and try to hide my stunned disbelief at what she just said. I glance around the table to catch everyone’s reactions and they seem to believe it. Hank and Kolbi are suppressing their own smiles and are sharing smug glances. Bailey and Magnolia fail to keep their mouths closed and are threatening to catch flies. Ophelia and Malcolm look at us like two proud parents watching their baby take their first steps.
“I love this for you.” Ophelia sighs and shakes her head at us.
“Thanks, me too. Just like I love my Conrad,” Margaret nearly sings and turns to face me quickly. Before I can process what is happening, her lips are on mine and she’s kissing me in front of my oldest friends. The table erupts in hoots and hollers. When she pulls away, she winks at me.
“I love you too.” It comes out more as a question than a statement. She smiles at me politely and gives me a small nod as if to say ‘nicely done, we’ve totally fooled them.’
“Alright children, that’s enough necking for now. Let’s eat,” Ms. Ruthie instructs from her seat while holding up a hand. The older woman is clearly unenthused by the play Margaret and I are putting on.
We all eat and talk about the year and how quickly it is coming to an end. We go around and share one thing we’regrateful for, each one of us sharing something different. When it comes to me, I feel the words sitting in the back of my throat, begging to be said aloud.I’m grateful that I got to meet Henry Baker and that he’s my boyfriend. But I won’t say that. I can’t. My mind and my mouth won’t let me so instead, I say I’m grateful for Annie and Margaret instead.
After the main meal is done and dessert is brought to the table, we all take a slice of various pies. Ms. Ruthie has made her famous double chocolate brownies that we all love and we each take one of those too.
“Why isn’t there a Thanksgiving cake?” Hank asks, studying the bite of pie that is hanging precariously from his fork.
“Thanksgiving cake, brother?” Kolbi questions, looking at our friend with furrowed brows.
“Yeah, a cake that you have specifically on Thanksgiving. We have Yule Logs for Christmas and birthday cakes for birthdays, why don’t we have a Thanksgiving cake?” Hank continues.
“Hanky boy, if you want a Thanksgiving cake, I’ll just cover my ass in gravy and we can call it good.” Malcolm smirks with a wink.
“Oh, gross, stop it you guys,” Bailey shoos them with her napkin as Magnolia uses hers to cover her laughs.
“Why don’t you ever offer to do that for me?” Ophelia chides.
“Princess, all you need to do is ask and it’s a done deal,” he growls and leans in to kiss her throat.
“That’s enough. We’re done talking about asses, okay? This is a civilized dinner of adults, now please, have some respect.” Bailey is trying her best to chastise the table but her broken laughs don’t help her case. We all start laughing at the thought of us being anything that resembled civilizedor adults. I’m thankful she put a stop to the conversation because the talk of ass play is causing certain semi-pornographic images to pop into my head. My heart quickens at the thought of him and the things we’ve done and now I miss him even more. And want him more than I should, seeing as how I won’t be seeing him for another few days.
“To being civilized adults,” Kolbi teases, raising his glass to the table and pulling me from the thoughts of my illicit affair. Again, we all raise our glasses to toast and take a sip.
“To being happy and in love,” Bailey adds and we toast again.
“To being young and adventurous,” Malcolm says with an evil glint in his eye. Everyone rolls their eyes at him but takes another drink anyway.
“I’m much too old for this,” Ms. Ruthie chuckles and shakes her head from her seat, causing another round of laughter to overtake the table. Magnolia smiles and leans her head on the shoulder of her previous caretaker who kisses the top of it.
“To being a family,” I add, raising my glass to the center of the table. “And to accepting one another exactly as we are, no matter what.”
Everyone pauses and looks at me with surprised contentment.
“Cheers,” Kolbi replies first and everyone echos him.
