Page 55 of Devour

After what must’ve appeared to be an awkward silence, I remembered I needed to address this situation verbally. “So, this is Rhory.”

“Sorry, I—” Mary began. Her sentence stalled, and she laughed.

So that’s where you get it from.

“I’m Eli’s cousin, Mary. So nice to meet you, Rhory. Please, come on in.”

We both stepped into the spotless kitchen, which appeared vacant for the moment but wouldn’t be the case for long.

“How… uh… how do you know Eli?” Very carefully treading.

“Rhory is a friend of mine from college,” I explained. “I didn’t want to drive out here alone.”

“Yep, I’m his entertainment.”

Really? I thought.

Oh, please. She wasn’t buying what you’re selling long before that comment.

So, back me up here.

“I don’t have any family out this way and I had nothing better to do, so.” Rhory shrugged. “It was either hang out with my best friend or be alone on Christmas.”

Mary smiled.

Rhory returned her grin. “And I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but you’re gorgeous. Eli mentioned he had redheads in his family, but damn.”

I knew what Rhory was doing. I’d seen him flirt. This wasn’t flirting. This was Rhory subtly establishing his attraction to women, which was factual, and that we were two straight college buddies, which couldn’t be further from the truth. And even though I should praise that kind of ingenuity, I felt pissed for exactly fifteen seconds before realizing how ridiculous that was. He did what I asked.

“Too late. Mary’s wedding is this winter,” I said, pretending to tease. “End of February, right?”

“Yeah. Now that we’re getting down to the home stretch, I’m kinda freaking out.” Her smile shifted into a smirk. “Which reminds me, you haven’t RSVP’d, yet.”

“Ah, well, I don’t know. I don’t do well at weddings, it seems.”

“It’s true. When our friend, Em, got married, he spent too much time at the wine fountain and I ended up having to drive us home,” Rhory quipped. I wasn’t sure if he thought he was helping or not, but with him, it easily went either way.

Mary openly laughed. “Well, he got a plus one in his invitation. You drag his butt to my wedding for me.”

Oh, I like her.

Me, too. Mary was quite possibly the only decent remaining family member I had. It will only get worse from here, though.

* * *

RHORY

Well, Eli’s cousin liked me. She appeared to be the only one. Actually, no, that wasn’t fair. Mary’s fiancé, Eric, spoke and thought like a reasonable human being, too. One who felt equally uncomfortable here and latched onto Eli and me right away, chatting away with us in a corner of the living room. As for everyone else, lost causes.

Eli’s dad smiled at me and shook my hand while simultaneously thinking of a slur. I wasn’t someone who got easily offended, but damn. That was a no.

His stepmom pressed her hands into her apron and didn’t even try to hide her smile morphing into a cringe. Her thoughts raced between which would be less of a scene: asking us to leave after being seen by the whole family or allowing us to stay and embarrass her. Also, a no.

As for his stepbrother and stepsister, they both regarded me with a mixture of morbid curiosity and disgust. They spent their time rubbernecking as if passing an accident—because even while appalled they wanted to spot the blood on the pavement. Their spouses were about the same. No times four.

The kids I didn’t even try to read. With any luck, they would widen their worldview and grow up halfway normal, but I didn’t want to lose my faith in humanity in the meantime.

Flurries scattered across the day, but maybe a couple of hours before we were due to eat, the snow started coming down heavily. Eli reminded himself numerous times, we only had to make it through dinner and we’d be out of here. Poor hubby was stressed. Not even the kind a good chomp and hump could fix. Which hubs made sure we did last night to avoid any incidents and not at all for any other reason, like him dreading this day for the entire week. Absolutely not.

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