“Are you ready to meet your maker?” I ask, walking up to the front door.
Chase takes my hand. “I am. Are you?”
“No. I want to get a plate of food then go home.”
“We will. In an hour or two.”
I make a face and Chase squeezes my hand. He stops before we go up the steps and onto the porch and kisses me.
“Thanks. I needed that.”
“I know,” he says.
We enter the house and find everyone in the back parlor, no doubt waiting for us to arrive. Lisa and Rob aren’t here yet, and I wonder if she’s skipping altogether. We haven’t spoken since she confronted me about Chase’s criminal record. I introduce Chase to everyone, and then Gran pulls us out onto the porch for tea.
“It’s nice to finally meet the man who’s responsible for making my granddaughter happy again,” Gran says to Chase.
“It’s nice making her happy,” Chase replies.
Gran watches Chase and prepares her tea. “I knew your father,” she tells him. “He drove trucks for us for a while.”
“You probably knew him better than I did.”
Curious, Gran sets her tea down. “He didn’t reach out to you over the years?”
“Not very often.”
“It must have been hard growing up without your father when he had another son he was quite fond of.”
Chase shrugs. “That didn’t bother me.”
“And you get along with your brother now?”
“Yes. Very well, actually.”
Gran takes a sip of tea. “It would be easy to resent him, living the life you could have.”
“No, ma’am,” Chase starts. “I find resenting anything to be a waste of time. Stressing over what could have been gets you nowhere. What matters to me is what could happen next.”
Gran smiles and turns her attention to me. “I like this one, Sierra.”
“You won over Gran,” I whisper to Chase. “The rest will follow.”
The sound of a car engine turns all our attention to the street. A police car pulls in, and I hate the feeling of dread I feel knowing Lisa and Rob are here. She’s my best friend, and she’s family. I don’t want to fight.
I take a drink of tea, knowing I need to put my game face on. It’s obvious when Lisa and I aren’t getting along, though I do have Chase with me this time to provide a good buffer…expect that he’s the cause of the ill feelings.
“You’re late,” Gran says to Lisa and Rob as they walk up to the porch.
“Blame this one,” Rob says, sticking his thumb out at Lisa. “She can’t get anywhere on time to save her life.”
Lisa rolls her eyes. “I so could.”
“Join us,” Gran says, much to my chagrin.
Lisa looks at me, then at Chase, pressing her lips together in a tight smile.
“Have y’all met before?” Gran asks, meaning Lisa, Rob, and Chase.
“Yes,” Chase answers. “Sierra and I were over at Rob’s for a bonfire not that long ago.”
“Lovely.” Gran settles her gaze on me, giving me a small nod of approval. “I was just telling Sierra what a fine young man she’s found. Not to put you on the spot or anything, dear,” she tells Chase.
Lisa gives Rob the side-eye, and then shakes her head. Gran hasn’t noticed, but Chase does. He’s smart enough to not bring it up, at least. Gran asks Chase about his newborn nephews and tells us a story about The Mill House before it was a bar. Lisa avoids eye contact with me the whole time and is on her phone, texting. I’m pretty sure she’s messaging Rob because he replies to texts right after she sends. I might not hear their words, but I know they’re talking about us.
Tension builds, and the awkwardness starts to hurt.
Dinner isn’t much better, but at least my sister likes to dominate the conversation and brag about how well my niece did at her last horse show. The rumors about Chase have circulated through town. I know what everyone is thinking, and are dying to ask. But we Belmonts were raised to have good manners, and asking someone about their shady past over dinner isn’t polite.
I’m more of a sit-back-and-listen kind of person at family meals, but make an exception this time whenever there is a lull in the conversation, which doesn’t happen often with my family.
“Is Scott coming home for the Fourth of July Fest?” I ask my mom.
“He said he’s in the middle of a big project,” Mom tells me. “Of course, he won’t disclose any details.”
Dad looks up from his plate. “You’ve never been to a Fourth Fest here, have you?”
“No, sir,” Chase answers. “This will be my first.”
“Why didn’t you come to Summer Hill before?” Dad asks.
“I knew I wasn’t welcome,” Chase answers honestly, surprising Dad. “I’m well aware of the situation my birth caused.”
“So why are you here now?”
“Well, I came for my father’s funeral,” Chase says slowly and I give my dad a what-the-fuck look. “And I stayed because my brother asked me to. We went our whole lives not really knowing each other and thought it was a good time to change that.”
“Where were you before you came to our little town?”
“Atlantic City.”
“You don’t have an accent,” Brent, my brother-in-law, says. “I thought everyone on the Jersey Shore had accents.”
“I’m not from there,” Chase explains. “I was born and raised near Chicago.”
“How did you end up in New Jersey?” Dad asks, furthering his interrogation.
“After studying psychology at the University of Chicago,” Chase starts, “I decided to throw a dart at a map and go wherever it landed. The world has so much to offer, I didn’t want to limit myself to one city. You can learn a lot from people who are different than you.”
“It sounds like you’ve moved around a lot,” Mom says, picking up her wine. She looks at my aunt Kelly and widens her eyes. It’s a good thing Mom doesn’t like to play poker. She’s so damn obvious.
“I did,” Chase answers. “A year ago today I was in Argentina.”
“That lifestyle sounds tiring,” Mom quips.
“It’s quite the opposite. Waking up not knowing what could happen makes you feel very much alive.”
“We must bore you here.” Mom smiles as she talks, but the implications of those five little words send a shiver down my spine.
“My tooth!” my niece cries, spitting something into her hand, and then holds up a bloody tooth. “If finally came out!”
I sigh and lean back in my chair, not realizing how tense I was until I relaxed. I’ve never been more thankful for a kid losing a tooth in my life. The conversation moves to the kids, with my niece unable to stop talking about her tooth and showing us how she can fit things in the new gap in her teeth now.
We have dessert and drinks on the patio near the pool. Chase eyeballs the pool house and nudges me with his elbow. I smile back, feeling blood rush through me at the thought of our first time.
We share a piece of cake, sitting together on the diving board, feet dangling above the pool. Chase makes me laugh so hard I almost fall in the water. He catches me at the last second, arms wrapping around my waist. We steal a kiss, not really caring if anyone sees.