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It wasn’t just a letter, though That I ht have been able to handle But no, life is rarely that silance, was an engraved invitation That raved invitation One that cordially — actually the word used — invited me to the fainia, despite everyone prettyany of us had agreed on in a good long while
It wasn’t that my family didn’t like each other We just didn’t really have anything in corounds for co as Aden, and that was h our shared amusement at the others Particularly my silly little sister Sasha who had fucked off to Australia the first chance she got We couldn’t bla to escape, but neither Aden nor I could think of anything more cliché We didn’t like cliché If Martin Amis hadn’t beaten us to it, by many years, we could have collaborated on a book called The War Against Cliché
Suddenly feeling very awake, I foundas was her custom
“Hullo, dear!” she said brightly, her drawl a lot stronger than mine
“Hi, ma,” I mumbled
“Oh, dear”
“What?”
“Aw, sorry, nothin’ It’s just ya sound awful Yankee these days”
“They won the war, you know”
“But the skin of their goddamn teeth!”
“I know, ot your lovely invitation and —”
“Ya’d love ta co It’s just so excitin’!”
“I —”
“You know Chester’s blood sugar level is actin’ up again He’s been gettin’ sicker lately Just can’t seenosed as a diabetic Keeps sayin’ he’s been healthy his entire life”
I knehat she was doing It was a transparent ploy to get me to come to the reunion only with an extra bit of potential survivor’s guilt thrown in My ency
Cruel and underhanded as her tactics ht have been, I couldn’t deny that they worked like a running clock with fresh batteries There was no way I wasn’t going to the reunion to seedad if what ht She did have a tendency to exaggerate
Thoroughlyat an unwanted trip, I felt suddenlyon with Chris once and for all If he did only want a physical relationship, I would cross that bridge when I came to it
I knew full well that I shouldn’t just show up at Sure Thing during the day, even if I was friends with or related to most of the people orked there I needed a cover story to get me in so I could talk to Chris — in his cubicle, if necessary
Brewing a large pot of coffee, putting it into ain my head
“Are you trying todown on the reception desk
“I for the coffee machine
“Just wait a coupleher baby bump
“That’s not fat, that’s beautiful, growing life,” Jinx said,Cammy both smile and blush at the same time