Chapter 46

That Thursday I was at home working on some stuff for a class, waiting for Sidney to get home. I found that I was having a hard time concentrating because my mind kept wandering to dinner that night. Oh how I wasn’t looking forward to dinner with the neighbors. Finally I was too frustrated on my lack of focus that I put my books away.

I walked outside and down the driveway to get the mail. I saw a car pull into the driveway next door and watched as Tamara got out. She glanced over at me as I walked down the driveway and I smiled over at her. She couldn’t be bothered to return the gesture as she opened the back door and pulled a travel bag out. I wondered if her mother had informed her of who I was yet.

I reached the mailbox and pulled out the mail. I stood at the side of the road sorting through what we’d gotten when Sidney’s Range Rover pulled into the driveway. I smiled as I made my way back up the driveway and watched him get out of his car in the garage and head towards me. As I walked towards him I noticed Tamara standing still with her eyes on Sidney.

“Anything good in there?” he asked, looking down at the mail in my hands.

“Just a lot of junk mail,” I reported. He took the mail out of my hands and began to sift through it himself. I chanced another glance at Tamara to see her still watching our interaction while pretending to be doing something in the car.

“Today was exhausting. I’m going to need a nap,” Sidney commented as he turned to head into the house. He seemed oblivious to Tamara’s presence outside.

“I can think of something that will help more than a nap,” I told him. I said it loud enough that Tamara couldn’t have missed it. Maybe I was being a bitch, but whatever. Sidney turned and grinned at me.

“I don’t know how I’ll be less tired after that,” he joked. I simply walked up to him and angled my face towards his, giving him a sly smile.

“It can’t hurt.” He laughed and leaned down to press his lips to mine. He pulled away after a moment and walked into the house. I glanced one more time at Tamara to see her practically steaming in anger before following Sidney inside.

A few hours later Sidney woke me up from the nap we’d both taken. He pulled me into the shower where we unsuccessfully tried to really just shower. What could I say? My energy was coming back now that the chemo was over. By the time the water had turned cold we were still rinsing soap off of us.

An hour later I was standing on the walk leading up to my house and facing the neighbors. I did not want to go in there. Going in there was the absolute last thing I wanted to do in the entire world at this current moment. I felt Sidney grab onto my hand and hold it in silence for a second.

“Ready?” he asked.

“No.” He chuckled and started to walk, pulling me along with him. We walked up to the front door and he rang the doorbell. A moment later Patty opened the door.

“Hi you two! Come on in!” she exclaimed, ushering us into the house. “I’m so glad we could have you over for dinner tonight. Follow me. I thought we’d have a drink before dinner.”

Sidney and I followed Patty into another room as she prattled on a little bit more about nothing I cared about. I tuned her out until we reached our destination. I looked up to see a man standing at a bar and Tamara sitting on a couch. They both turned to us as we walked in and smiled.

“This is my husband, Isaac and my daughter Tamara. Guys, this is Sidney and Tanner,” she introduced us all.

After the introductions, Isaac asked us what we wanted to drink. We gave him our requests and sat down. Once the drinks were handed out, the conversation started. It was clear to me within a few minutes that no one in that family was the least bit interested in anything I had to say. Instead the entire conversation focused solely on Sidney.

I sipped on my martini and did a lot of the smile-and-nod at appropriate times while wishing I could be anywhere but here. At one point I caught Isaac checking his watch. He obviously wanted to be here about as much as I did. Patty and Tamara hardly seemed to notice that Isaac and I were nearly silent as they barraged Sidney with question after question about himself while throwing in some fun little facts about Tamara.

My assumption from the day Grace and I had met Patty seemed to be dead on. They were fishing for information about Sidney while constantly bringing up how great Tamara was. It was difficult to not just get up from my seat and announce that I was leaving. Instead I chose to just roll my eyes. I could do it openly since it had been a good long while since anyone had even bothered to glance in my direction.

“Mrs. Hampson, the salad is ready,” a woman announced walking into the room.

“Thank you,” Patty responded and the woman left the room. “Shall we?”

Sidney and I glanced at each other as we stood up. I lifted my eyebrows at him in annoyance and he gave me a little shrug that told me he wasn’t exactly enjoying the night so far either. We walked into the dining room and sat down at the table. The conversation continued just like it had before while we ate our salad. Sidney kept trying to include me in the conversation but Patty and Tamara somehow found a way to cut me out of it every time.

Once our dinner came I was ready to go. I had gotten to the point that I wanted to strangle somebody. Tamara was blatantly hitting on Sidney and Patty was basically encouraging her to go on with it. It was taking every ounce of my energy to keep my mouth shut. While I thought they were being very disrespectful of me, I didn’t want to be rude to them.

“Well, Tanner is in her last semester at Duquesne,” I heard Sidney say, once again trying to include me in the conversation. I couldn’t for the life of me think of what they’d been talking about, but I smiled and nodded. Again.

“Really? What are you studying?” Patty asked me. Astonished that she’d actually asked me a question, it took me a second to respond.

“I’m a biology major. Animal science more specifically,” I told her. I saw Tamara roll her eyes across the table.

“What do you plan on doing with that?” Isaac asked. It was the first time he’d spoken up without being prodded since we’d sat at the table. He seemed just as sick of hearing his wife and daughter talk as I was.

“Well, I hope to get a job at the zoo here in Pittsburgh while going to grad school to get my Ph.D,” I explained.

“You want to be a zookeeper?” Tamara scoffed. She said it with a smile, but I could hear the condescension dripping from her words, like being a zookeeper was something to be ashamed of. I turned my attention to her and smiled.

“Well, in a way I guess. I want to work with animals of course, but I’m more interested in researching and observing their behavior so we can find ways to help conserve them in their natural habitats.”

“Well, how noble of you,” she replied with a roll of her eyes. I opened my mouth to retort, until I felt Sidney’s hand on my knee. He gave it a small squeeze and I took a deep breath to calm myself.

“What are you planning on studying at school?” I asked her, curious as to what her grand plan was.

“Nursing,” she responded. I tried to hold back my laughter. Of course she’d want to be a nurse. Not that there was anything wrong with nursing, but I couldn’t picture her doing anything that would involve getting messy.

“Really? I could never be a nurse. I’m not sure my stomach could handle it.”

I made it sound like a compliment, but really, I just wanted to see her reaction. I’d managed to keep out the words “blood, guts, and bodily fluids” at the dinner table, but my point was taken. She squirmed a little in her seat and made a bit of a face.

“I don’t mind it at all,” she said, lying through her teeth.

“This lamb is really great, Patty,” Sidney interrupted. I bit back my smile at him changing the subject.

She thanked him for the compliment even though I was sure she’d had nothing to do with cooking any of our dinner. Conversation fell back into the pattern of the rest of the night with Isaac and I sitting silently while the other three talked. I was hoping to get out of there when we were done eating, but held back a groan when they wheeled out dessert.

“Thank you so much for dinner. I just wish I could have eaten more of it. It was delicious,” I told Patty as she walked Sidney and I to the door half an hour later.

“We’re glad you two could make it. We’ll have to do it again sometime soon.” Sidney and I thanked her again before leaving. We walked across their yard into ours before either of us spoke.

“You realize what was going on in there, right?” I asked him, spinning around to look at him. He sighed and nodded.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop them!” he exclaimed throwing his hands in the air. I stormed into the house wishing I could have those two hours back of my life back.

“That was the most degrading and irritating dinner of my life,” I told him.

“We’ll try not to go back, okay?” he asked, pulling me into a hug. I looked up at him.

“Promise?” He smiled and placed a kiss on my forehead.

“Promise.” I let out one last sigh and flopped down onto the couch. I was never letting Patty and Tamara near Sidney again.