Page 17 of Unfinished

It was November 27th, Thanksgiving day, and it’d be the first time she’d be around her family since Edgar’s obnoxious blow-up the month before. She’d shared a few messages with Theo, but she hadn’t even spoken to her mother. Sienna had considered skipping the holiday gathering, but knowing this would likely be her last Thanksgiving, she just couldn’t do it. If everything went smoothly with their request, she’d be headed to an alien planet in just a little over a week.

It didn’t feel quite real. She’d already completed several cultural training modules required by the program, and she’d even started to pack, but Sienna hadn’t made arrangements for her apartment or furniture here yet, she hadn’t given notice at work, and something had held her back from telling anyone she was really leaving, even Tasha.

She wasn’t being a good friend, and maybe she wasn’t a good daughter either—her mother certainly wouldn’t argue with that claim—but as so many of her early summer resolutions had fallen by the wayside that autumn, she couldn’t bear to let anything stop her from fulfilling number five.Don’t live for other people.If that ended up getting number three checked off her list via a little alien romance, then so be it.

Sienna took some time to start going through her drawers, sorting through her accumulated clutter to see what was worth bringing along on her new journey. Had she told herself none of it felt real? She huffed out a laugh. She shut the drawer and called up the images she’d saved from R’kash’s messages, watching the hologram slide-show above her wrist. Golden, sun-kissed grasses, the strong, stone building rising up in the middle of it all, not another structure in sight. He was waiting for her there. She just needed to be strong a little while longer.

She shook her wrist to deactivate the holograms and put on a coat and scarf, grabbing some gloves before she took the pumpkin pie she’d made earlier off the counter. The transport alert chimed just as she reached the door, the status-indicator on her wrist comm glowing green.

The ride was long, traffic thick with other holiday travelers en route to their families. She’d tell Tasha tonight. However things went with her parents, she wouldn’t delay any longer. Everyone needed to know.

By the time she reached the house, her anxiety had dimmed to an ever present hum throbbing behind her temples. She’d been nervous too long to continue feeling it at the same intensity. She walked up the path to the front entrance and the door opened before she could even wave at the cameras.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” her brother said as he held the door.

“Hey, Theo. Happy Thanksgiving,” she replied as she stepped inside, stopping to give her brother a tight hug. Sienna felt him stiffen for a few seconds before his body relaxed and he returned the embrace.

“Good to see you. Everything’s all ready.” He pulled back and took a look at her, gaze settling on the pie in her right hand. “Homemade?”

“Of course. I’m no chef, but I can handle pumpkin pie.” She grinned at her brother’s wide smile.

“Come on, then. You have to face them sooner or later.”

She breathed in through her nose and gave him a curt nod. “I know. Believe me, I know,” she added as she followed him through the foyer.

Faint pulses of pastel light traveled through the walls, one of her mother’s design decisions from Sienna’s early childhood that’d stuck. The back of her throat ached as she walked into the hallway, leaving the room behind. It was funny such a silly thing had the power to unbalance her, but it was just one more detail of her life that would be no more than another memory once she was on Xithilene.

She wasn’t prepared when they entered the dining room. She’d had the whole long ride there, all the weeks of non-communication with her mother, and despite all that time she wasn’t ready to face them.

“Hey, mom. Dad,” she added with a half smile in his direction as she walked up to the table, setting down her pie at the far end. “Happy Thanksgiving.” She sat as the silence grew heavy.

“You came.” At long last, her mother spoke.

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

From the frown on her face, Lark probably thought she was being facetious, but Sienna meant it. Now that she was here, she knew it would’ve haunted her to leave without settling things between them.

Her mother cleared her throat and stretched her neck like a python swallowing prey before she gave Sienna another pointed look. “I owe you an apology.” The words were stiff and halting, as if the sounds were mixed with cut glass and each one hurt on its way out.

“You do?” Sienna’s hands fell to her lap. She could count on one hand the times her mother had ever admitted she might be wrong about something. In fact, it’d only ever taken one finger.

Lark sighed. “It’s about Edgar.” Her narrow shoulders shuddered and her lips turned down in distaste. “I misjudged his character, and I regret encouraging you to stay in a relationship with that man.”

In lieu of another unappreciated “you do?” Sienna remained silent.

“I could hardly believe he’d be so bitter, but you were right about him—such a vindictive, spiteful man. You’ve been avoiding me, I know, but I spoke to Kathleen, and I let her know what I thought about such behavior from her son. As if anyone would believe such ridiculous rumors.” Her mother straightened her shoulders and tilted her head with a grim smile. “Enough of that nastiness. It’s time to begin the meal.”

The old Sienna would’ve nodded and acquiesced. Even yesterday’s Sienna might’ve told herself it was okay to avoid the conflict and wait as the antique serve-bots her parents used for special occasions rolled out with their holiday fare, but she’d made a promise to herself. Number one on her list, the item she’d been failing at the most lately:tell the truth about how you feel. Don’t hide yourself anymore.She’d been weak and called it politeness, but not any longer.

“He wasn’t lying.”Wow.She’d done it. The sentence had actually come out of her mouth, and the world was still turning. “As disgusting as the way he announced it was, Edgar wasn’t lying about one thing; I did fall in love with a Xithilene, a man I’ve been writing to since June.” She rushed to get the rest out before her family could collect themselves enough to formulate their replies and interrupt. “His name is R’kash, and if all goes well, I’ll be going to Xithilene to be with him in a little over a week.”

Maybe she’d spoken too fast and the words had become all garbled. Cold sweat beaded at her armpits and along the hollows of her back, and her skin prickled with unease. The squeak of the first serve-bot turning the corner into the dining room sounded like a screech amid the fraught silence. Even Theo looked like a ghost of himself sitting pale and lifeless in his chair, like she could tap his shoulder and he might fall right over.

Lark’s laughter when it came was harsh. “No,” she shook her head. “No, you’re just trying to be shocking, aren’t you, dear? I don’t know why, but you can’t possibly expect any of us to believe you’re doing anything other than making an unsuccessful joke in remarkably poor taste. I apologized,” she said, her voice rising, turning shrill. “What else do you want, Sienna?”

Theo didn’t chime in to save her. Both he and her father had placed themselves firmly in the background of the conversation, and she knew it’d be up to her alone to explain it all.

“It’s not a joke mom.” It’d been a long time since she’d called her that, since she’d felt close enough to Lark to use the more familiar term. “It’s not. R’kash is real. We’ve been writing to each other almost daily for the past six months. He’s kind and reserved, yet he can be funny and playful, too. He’s a priest among their people, and he lives in a beautiful temple with his staff and his daughter. Veesha is two, about to turn three. We’ll be celebrating her birthday a week after I arrive.”

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