Page 41 of Living for Truth
Elli’s silent for a minute before she squeals. “I love it. I can’t wait to hear the details. Emma will actually be there too, she’s coming to Utah because her family is having a big get-together for Andrew’s birthday. He would’ve been forty.”
That sobers us for a minute. Andrew was Emma’s brother who passed away almost seven years ago. I know it’s hard for Emma to come back because her family doesn’t treat her well, but she and Andrew were close. It makes sense she’d come back to memorialize him.
“Sounds like she’ll need a distraction. We should have a girls’ day before the concert! We can go shopping and get ready together,” I suggest. Usually the thought ofgoing clothing shopping with anyone but Sage would make me want to cry, but Elli and Emma are both plus sized like me, so shopping with them wouldn’t be tormenting.
“I love that idea. I’ll start a group chat tonight, and we can make a definitive plan!” Someone says something to Elli, and I hear her mumbled response. “I have to get going, but I’m excited! See you then!”
“Bye, Elli. See you soon.” I hang up, a giddy feeling bubbling in my stomach at the prospect of having some girl time with my favorite cousins.
With a family as big as ours, I’m notsupposedto have favorites, but I don’t really care. Emma and Elli are the sisters I never had, and I’m glad we’re still in touch, even if it’s not as often as I like.
A knock on my window startles me, and I turn and see my mom’s scowling face glaring at me from the other side of the tinted glass.
I motion for her to step back so I can get out, and as soon as the door is open, she’s talking.
“Why are you just sitting out here in the driveway? Whatever, it doesn’t matter. My car’s in the shop, and Dad’s running late. I need you to come with me to pick up ice cream because the missionaries are coming over, and I have no dessert.”
I completely forgot they were having the missionaries over for dinner. Or maybe I didn't know? There’s every possibility someone canceled dinner for them, so my parents picked up the responsibility.
Thelastthing I want to do is suffer through a dinner with my family and the missionaries, but it’s too late to pretend to be busy.
“Alright. Let’s go.” I motion to the car, and she gets in. I notice Jake’s car is in the driveway and wonder why she isn’t forcing him to go or taking his car.
Luckily for me, the grocery store is only five minutes away, but it feels like hours with only the sound of the engine running and my mom tapping away on her phone.
When she finally speaks, it’s as we’re pulling into the parking spot. “One of the elders coming tonight is a late bloomer. He’s twenty-five.”
Fantastic.I know exactly where this is going. “Okay? Why does that matter?”
“I just wanted you to be prepared for someone closer to your age to be there. He’s very handsome.”
“I have a boyfriend, Mom.”
She makes a sound that’s something between a scoff and a grunt but waves me off and steps out of the car.
I dutifully follow her around and give her opinions on ice cream flavors, and then we’re back in my car and headed home. She’s never really been in my car, so her eyes glance around the random pieces of mail and receipts that I keep stashed in one of the cup holders.
Her eyes snag on the little pink gift card Sage gave me, and she picks it up.
“What’s this?” Her tone is sharp and accusatory, like I’ve been caught with drugs instead of a gift card.
“My birthday present from Sage.”
“Why is she giving you gift cards for a lingerie store? Are youfornicatingwith that man?”
“No.” I don’t owe her an explanation, and I want this conversation to be done with.
She tosses the gift card down like it burns her and picks up a receipt for a coffee shop I go to every once in a while. “Coffee?!Alcohol, lingerie, and now this? What’s next, Hannah? Are you going to pierce your nose and start doing marijuana?”
I want to tell her you don’tdomarijuana. You smoke it, or you take it in edible form, but I don’t think she’d appreciate that. I want to point out that those things are normal for well-adjusted adults to enjoy. This five minute car ride has turned into an interrogation, and I’m sure if we didn’t have dinner to prepare for, she’d be scolding me for my life choices.
I don’t get a chance to respond because we pull into the driveway, and my dad is there, presumably with the missionaries, meaning she has to put on her mask of hospitality. “I don’t recognize you anymore,” she says as she exits my car.
I sit and stare out the window to get my bearings, wondering what in thehelljust happened. A sense of foreboding sits like a lead weight in my stomach.
Something big and probably awful is going to happen, I just know it.
Chapter 19
