Chapter Twenty Eight: Another Miles Evening Dinner
Chapter Twenty–Eight: Another Miles Evening Dinner
The last time I had gotten such a love note was from Felix, a freckled – faced guy who always had his braces on. He had a huge crush on me in high school. At first, he started off anonymous. Dropping off love notes in my locker and in most of my books. Until Bill, the class bully, saw him one day trying to fix the thin rim of the note through the tiny openings in the sides of the locker. After that day, he had been nicknamed “sneaky lover,” a name I thought lame. I had felt bad about it and had asked him on a date during the prom dance, just so that everyone would stop calling him that. Bug this one; it was more like a creepy lover.
“Did you see that?” I asked. I could hear the quiver in my voice.
“See what, ma’am?” Ana’s voice was low and soft. She seemed not to have noticed anything even
after I moved my head about looking out in the darkness.
“I thought I saw a manly figure around the bushes.” I tried to keep my voice from trembling.
“I didn’t see anyone.” Ana said it in a straight face. I saw her eyes through the rare mirror as she watched me.
“Are you okay, ma’am?” She asked, still looking at her from the rear–view mirror.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I said, even if I wasn’t sure of that.
The rest of the ride was quiet; I sat still, holding the sides of my dress. The beep from my phone vibrated, making the seat shake vigorously. It was a text from Angela.
“Hey girl, I have been standing in front of Miles‘ apartment in the freezing cold. Where are you?!” I moved my head up from the phone and stared at Anna as she held the steering in a firm grip.
“How much further?”
“We are close.”
I knew this; I had thought it would be weird if I hadn’t asked that. There had been an awkward stare in Ana’s eyes ever since I had walked in through the door. It was something I could not understand. She said, “I understand what is going on; you don’t need to tell me.” Kind of look.
The estate was all lit up, so I could see the fields clearly. There were few people around; most of them walked in pairs. Ana drove the car to the parking lot, where Angela stood waiting.
“I’m so sorry for keeping you out in the cold; it was kind of a crazy ride.
“Crazy ride?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about it. Right now, we have something bigger to face.”
I looked around the house. I have been here a couple of times, and all my experiences have been sore, which caused my disliking of this place.
“This should be the way in, ma’am.” I watched her with raised brows. This was the same house I had
Chapter Twenty–Eight: Another Miles Evening Dinner
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lived in many years ago. Now I was personally driven by Anna, who claimed to know the place more
than I do.
I knew my way around the house, and I always came in through the back door. Sometimes, when Thomas and 1 were still courting, we would sneak out from the window in his room and run off to an all–night party. We would both tell our parents that we needed to study all night for a test and would return before dawn. It was the same house where I had my first sex with Thomas. Thomas and I had met in college, but somehow he knew my father. He had opted for a group partner for a project when I asked to join him. After we made the project a success, we became inseparable, or at least I thought so
I knew Ana was just trying to be her best at her job, so I had no intention of interrupting her.
“I’d take it from here.”
Ana smiled back at her and walked in the opposite direction. I stood with my hands by her sides, looking at the big wooden door in front of the house.
It’s just for a few hours.” Angela muttered as she watched my eyes shut. I could feel the warmth in the continuous, deep breaths I took.
I held the lustrous golden handle of the huge door standing there in front of the door for a couple of minutes more and opened it, walking into the living room.
The dining room was adjacent to the living room in an open space. It was a long dining table that had about a dozen chairs. Thomas‘ family had always loved to have dinner together on Sundays. Most times, I was their special guest, and other times they brought in distant uncles and relatives as their special guests. They would have different Mexican, Italian, or Indian menus. I always found the Indian meals too salty.
The table was filled with dozens of dishes and silvery cutlery neatly arranged in sets. The lights reflected on the silvery wear on the table. There were bowls of hamburger soup, boiled corn, chicken spaghetti, casseroles, barbecue chicken salad, a full roasted chicken sitting in the middle of the table, a bottle of wine, and wine glasses.
We took a few steps inside, and instantly the place felt bigger than it actually was. It was a pretty big place with high ceilings and a spacious living room. Finely decorated with small vintage art sculptures and different paintings in every corner of the room. I closed the door behind me, forcing
out a smile.
“Thomas might not have the money he used to have, but his family does have some taste in classy things.” Angela commended me; I eyed her and moved on.
I spotted Thomas sitting beside Catherine, smiling back at me from where he sat, in between his aunt and one of his cousins, I presume.
“Why is he smiling at me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think I made the right choice coming here?”
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“You surely do not want to bail out now do you?”
“What if this is some plot?”
“Oh no, not the scary house murder story now. We are already here and we are going to do this. Where do 1 sit?” Angela asked.
“Just fix yourself somewhere and be sure to stay out of the aunties.”
I walked over to the only empty seat that was in between Williams, an old family friend and one of Thomas‘ aunties, the very one I had warned Angela to stay away from. Most of the chairs were filled now and so there was no escape from me.
“Oh Regina, even after what our dear son did to you, you still made time to come. Well we realized you have been a good in–law to us and so we dedicated this dinner
to you.
It sounded sweet and weird at the same time. I was certainly not going to eat anything as the thought of Angela’s words did not leave my heart.
Thomas‘ immediate sister walked over to me with her arms around my shoulder.
“We saved you a seat, we were afraid you wouldn’t show up. Dinner is about to begin.”
I still held my smile perfectly on my face as I walked with her over to the seat they had saved for me right in the lion’s den.
