Thanksgiving dinner was drawing to an end, and she still hadn’t accomplished her goal. She glanced over at Jake.
He leaned his head on his hand and pretended to listen to their father’s recounting of this afternoon’s concert. As soon as the pie was gone, he would help carry the dishes to the kitchen. Then he would leave to catch the football game since their parents didn’t own a TV.
This was her last chance.
Annie took a deep breath. She slid her right hand into her pocket, where the now familiar moonstone rested, and laid her left hand on top of Drew’s on the table.
Drew jumped, but no one else reacted.
Maybe Jake didn’t see. I need to make it more obvious.
Tenderly, Annie stroked her thumb along the back of Drew’s hand. For a moment, she became distracted by the fine lines crisscrossing Drew’s knuckles. The tendons beneath her fingertips flexed. When Annie looked up, their gazes connected.
Drew stared at her through wide eyes.
Is this making her uncomfortable?
Drew looked so vulnerable that Annie wanted to lift her hand to her lips and press a reassuring kiss to her knuckles.
The thought caught her by surprise. She jerked her gaze away from Drew’s. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jake watching them.
He made a face and then returned his attention to their father.
It’s no use.
Annie’s shoulders slumped.
You could French-kiss Drew and ...
Her gaze veered to Drew’s lips, and heat rushed to Annie’s face. She rubbed her knuckles across her own cheek and shook her head.
Even then, he wouldn’t believe it.
Her mother reached for a second piece of pumpkin pie. “Annie,” she said while she piled whipped cream on the pie, “wasn’t there something you wanted to tell us? We’re all together now.”
“What? Oh, no, I—” But then Annie paused. She had tried showing physical affection for Drew. She had held her hand and leaned close every chance she got. Nothing had convinced Jake. Maybe she needed a new strategy. “Yes,” she said. “I’ve got something to tell you.”
Drew’s hand tensed beneath hers. “Annie,” Drew said. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Not in front of your parents.”
But Annie wasn’t worried about her parents. They probably wouldn’t react to the big news anyway. They never did. All that interested them was art and music. But was it fair to put Drew in this situation?
“Why would you say that?” Her mother frowned at Drew. “Annie knows she can tell us anything.”
Annie suppressed a snort.
Oh, yes, I can tell them anything. But getting them to listen is another thing.
Drew turned her hand and squeezed Annie’s fingers. “It’s your decision.”
Okay, here we go.
Annie clenched her right hand around the moonstone and said the first words that came to mind. “I’m in love with Drew.”
Her mother’s fork clattered onto the plate. Spatters of whipped cream hit the tablecloth.
Annie pulled her hand out of her pocket and gripped Drew’s fingers with both hands.
Drew tightened her hold on Annie’s hands too. Now they were clinging to each other like two people holding on to a lifeline.
Deep lines furrowed her father’s brow. He leaned forward and, without saying anything, opened and closed his mouth like a carp out of water.
Even her mother, who normally took everything in stride, stared at her. “Did you just say ...?”
Part of Annie wanted to back down and admit it was all a joke, but despite the shocked expressions on her parents’ faces, she raised her head and nodded.
Her mother looked at Drew as if she needed the visual reminder of who Drew was. “But ... but you’ve never fallen in love with a woman before.”
“I’ve never fallen in love with anyone before,” Annie said. The words were true. Was she really just acting? Annie wasn’t sure anymore.
“Then why now?” her mother asked. “Why with,” she threw an apologetic glance at Drew, “her?”
Annie searched for a convincing argument, but her head came up empty. There were so many things she liked about Drew, but none of them really were the reason. It had just happened.
Just happened?
She let go of Drew’s hands and pressed her fingertips to her temples as if she could squeeze the thought out of her head.
“Annie, are you serious? You and ...” Her father opened the top button on his starched shirt as if it had become a noose around his neck. He glanced at Drew and then back at Annie. “You’re ...?”
A lump formed in Annie’s throat. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t look at her father.
Oh, God. What am I doing? This is not a game. Drew means too much to me to use her like this.
She searched Drew’s gaze.
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
Drew captured both of Annie’s hands in her own again and gave them a squeeze. “Mr. Prideaux ... Alan—”
“Oh, Annie,” Annie’s mother interrupted Drew’s attempt to explain. With a quick glance to Drew, she said, “When you were younger, I remember talking with Richard—Jake’s godfather, who is gay—about what it would be like if one of our children turned out to be gay.” She looked at Annie and shook her head. “I never thought it might be you.”
“What?” Jake smacked both palms onto the table and jumped up. “What’s that supposed to mean? You didn’t think I might be ... Mom, that’s ridiculous! I’m not gay—and neither is Annie! She’s no more in love with Drew than she’s a Wiccan witch!”
“Sit down, Jake.” Their father’s baritone rumbled through the dining room.
Jake remained where he was, towering over the table. “Oh, come on, Dad! Can’t you see it? This is all a charade. They’re not a couple. They’re just doing this to get back at me.”
“Jake,” their mother said. The usual light tone was gone from her voice. “How could you think something like that about your sister? She would never pretend to be in love with a woman just to get back at you for something you did.” She regarded Annie with a tender gaze. “Your sister is in love. That should make you happy,” she turned back to Jake, her expression growing serious, “not suspicious.”
Oh, God. Why does she have to defend me now of all times?
What little Annie had eaten of the Thanksgiving dinner sat like lead in her stomach. She hung her head, unable to face her mother.
“I know this must be a shock to you,” her mother said to Jake. “It’s a shock to all of us. But it doesn’t give you the right to pass judgment on your sister or to belittle her relationship.” She reached across the table, about to pat Annie’s hand, and then withdrew when she found Drew’s hands covering Annie’s. Her brow furrowed, and she stared at their entwined fingers for a few moments before she swallowed and looked back at Annie’s face. “No matter what choices you make in life, we love you, Annie. Your ... Drew will always be as welcome as Jake’s girlfriends.”
What? Did she really just say that?
Annie slumped against the back of her chair and stared at her mother, then at her father, who nodded. Her thoughts swirled at a high speed, like a tornado that was about to rip apart her world. In the thirty years of her life, she had never heard words like those from her parents.
Now that they had finally told her they loved her, it was all based on a lie.
Is it really?
Annie shoved the thought away, wanting to focus on one issue for now. She pulled her hands from Drew’s and curled them into fists. Tears burned in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “Why now?” she choked out.
Her mother stared at her and then sent her father a helpless glance. “Umm ... what do you mean?”
“Why did this,” with her chin, Annie described a circle that included Drew, Jake, and her, “have to happen for you to finally tell me that you love me?”
“What are you talking about?” Her mother ran her hands through her disheveled hair as if that would help her understand.
“You don’t even realize that you never told me that you love me, do you?” Annie wasn’t sure whether her parents’ lack of awareness made things better or worse.
“That’s not true, Annie,” her mother said. “I’m sure we told you that when you were a child.”
Annie pressed her lips together and shook her head. “No, Mom, you didn’t. Not even once.”
At his wife’s imploring gaze, her father jumped into the conversation. “You’re exaggerating. Just because we don’t always tell you doesn’t mean we don’t love you. Sometimes actions speak louder than words.”
Leaning forward, Annie stared at her father. “Which actions, Dad?”
“What?”
“Which actions were supposed to make me feel loved?”
Her father fingered the cleft in his chin. “Annie ...”
“Tell me.” She looked from one parent to the other. “Did you show me your love by standing back when the other kids at school made my life a living hell or when Jake played stupid tricks on me?”
“Oh, come on,” Jake said. “It’s not like they had to protect you from me. It was harmless.”
Annie ignored Jake’s interruption and just kept talking. Now that she had started, a lot of suppressed emotions bubbled up and couldn’t be held back any longer. “Or by giving me paintings and concert tickets for every birthday and every Christmas, even though that’s your interest, not mine? Do you even have any clue what I’m interested in?”
Her parents looked at each other like two contestants in a quiz show who had just been asked the one-million-dollar question without any joker left.
“Books,” her mother said.
While her father added, “Work.”
“Then why don’t you ever ask what I’m reading or how work is going?”
Her father frowned. “I ask you all the time.”
“No, Dad, you don’t. Not really. Even when you do ask, you never seem very interested in the answer. You’re my parents, and you don’t know anything about my life. I tried to pretend not to care, but I do.” Annie exhaled sharply and rubbed her breastbone. “It ... it hurts.”
They stared back as if they had never seen her before.
“Wow,” Jake said into the sudden silence. He reached across the table and nudged Drew’s shoulder. “What did you do to my sist—”
“For once in your life, shut up!” Annie said without bothering to lower her voice.
Jake blinked and then opened his mouth again.
Annie jerked around to glare at him. “I swear to God, if you make one more stupid comment about me ...”
“Whoa!” Jake leaned away and held up both palms. “Calm down. No reason to get so emotional.”
“No reason? I’ve got plenty of reasons!” Annie wanted to get up and pummel her brother until he stopped belittling her. “You don’t even realize what you did to me, do you? You started an emotional landslide by setting me up with Drew!”
“But ... but it was just a joke!” He gestured helplessly, nearly toppling over his half-full wineglass.
Annie smashed her hand onto the table. “My life is not a joke, Jake! When will you finally grow up and realize that not everything is just fun and games?”
“That’s not what I—”
“You can’t just go through life and have fun at everyone else’s expense. Your actions have consequences.” She dug her fingernails into the table cloth. “If you continue to play with my emotions, I swear I’ll ... I’ll ...” She stopped and shook her head. Tears trailed down her cheeks. One drop fell, and she watched it being absorbed into the table cloth.
Oh, God.
Her chair scraped over the floor as she pushed it back, jumped up, and fled to the kitchen.
Shocked silence stayed behind.
Chapter 19
Drew blew out the breath she had been holding the entire time Annie was telling her family off.
The Prideauxs glanced at each other. No one said a word. They all looked as if a bomb had just gone off in their faces.
Isn’t anyone going to get up to see if Annie is okay?
Drew frowned. But maybe Annie wouldn’t want to face her family. Now that she had time to think, Annie probably felt embarrassed. She was used to keeping things to herself and didn’t normally react with emotional outbursts.
Well, this one was long overdue.
Drew was proud of Annie for speaking her mind.
“Are we really that bad as parents?” Annie’s mother looked at Jake.
“Well,” Jake said, “I wouldn’t say bad, but ...” He shrugged. “You’re not the overly involved type, that’s for sure.”
Mr. Prideaux sank against the backrest of his chair.
After a few more seconds of silence, Drew got up.
The Prideauxs’ stares zeroed in on her.
“I’ll go see if Annie is okay,” Drew said.
Annie’s mother hesitated. “Maybe I should go.”
“If you want.” Drew paused, torn between hoping Annie would bond with her mother and wanting to protect Annie from her parents.
“But maybe Annie needs a minute before she’s ready to talk to us.” Annie’s mother didn’t get up. She sat looking at Drew for several seconds, her expression almost pleading.