And that was a very good point.
"Aren't we doing a buffet?" I asked the moment there was a break in the conversation. "Parker just reminded me. We don't need a seating plan for a buffet because everyone just grabs food. Not to mention it's a reunion and not a goddamn wedding."
Yia-Yia grinned. "I still smash plates."
Obviously. "I haven't been at a party with you where you haven't. But, I'm just pointing it out. Nobody is going to stick to the plan. Everybody will complain, and then move, so, it's all a-"
"I'm not sitting next to her!" Demetri snapped, storming into the room. My fourteen-year-old cousin, Alexa the Second as we affectionately called her, was hot on his heels. "If you put me with her, we'll have a reunion and a funeral!"
"Your funeral!" Alexa the Second shouted at him. "And I'll spit on your grave!"
I slumped forward on the table.
"I'll spit on you right now!"
"Where are the mimosas?"
"Mamá!"
"Ay, children!"
"You started this!"
"And I'm finishing it!" Mom hollered, slamming her hand on the table, making it jump.
I sat up and looked around. Total silence had descended on the kitchen. Between Great Aunt Maria's misgivings about the lack of mimosas, Yia-Yia's frustration at fighting, and the actual fighting, it had been pandemonium. Now, the only sound that remained was the ticking of the clock on the wall and the blaring of the television in the other room where Great Uncle Alex was watching some game show.
"There will be no seating plan," Mom said after a moment. "But you two will be firmly separated, and Aunt Maria will be by the bar."
"Awesome," I said, closing my laptop. "It's always a thrill to drive forty-five minutes to get nothing more than a headache. I could have called if I wanted that."
"Sit." Mom ordered me. "Everyone else out."
The teenagers ran out of the kitchen, but Yia-Yia and Great Aunt Maria hovered as if they were undecided about whether or not to let my mom dictate anything to them. After one sharp look from Mom-that I think made Yia-Yia snicker-they left.
"Since when did you and Parker text?" Mom asked me in a low voice.
I stared at her flatly. "Since when did it matter who I'm texting?"
"I'm your mother. I can ask you whatever I want."
"Yeah, well, if the police give me the right to remain silent upon arrest, I'm pretty sure I have the right to remain silent here, too." I stuffed my laptop into my purse and grabbed my phone.
Mom laughed into her coffee mug. "You're smarter than he is."
I paused in the door. "I wasn't aware that had ever been up for debate, but you're right. I am. Maybe you should interrogate him instead."
Her smile was wry. "Maybe I will."
Of course, my silence had given her everything she needed to know, but that was beside the point.
I didn't know what the point was, but I knew it wasn't that.
I hoped it wasn't that.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Parker
"Where were you last night?" Ryan leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. His eyes, a shade or two darker than Raven's were focused on me as he asked his question.
I slammed my fist into the bread I was kneading. Lying to him wasn't something I assumed I would have to do. It was stupid of me, but I thought he'd be the last person to ask me where I was. "I stayed with a friend here."
"Who?"
"You don't know them. We met last week." Kneading the bread was satisfying in this conversation. It was keeping my mild annoyance in check.
Not that I had a right to be annoyed. I was the one hiding something from him, after all. He was just asking me a reasonable question. One I couldn't answer honestly.
Well, I could, but telling him I'd been sleeping with his sister whilst in a kitchen wasn't the greatest idea in the world.
"All right." Ryan frowned, but he didn't move. "I gotta say, I didn't enjoy getting woken up by your mom so early."
"Sorry, man. By the time I'd left here, it was too late to message her." I dumped the bread into the plastic bowl to my right and covered it.
"Why were you here so late?"
"Working. Your sister wanted to do a cocktail pairing and last night was the only chance we had."
"When did you leave?"
"Late. I don't know." I pushed the bowl to the side and turned to the side. I twisted the tap, washed my hands, and then reached for my bottle of water to drink. "Maybe like eleven? Eleven-thirty?"
"Why couldn't you do that this morning?"
"Is she here right now?"
"True." He relaxed his frown. "Just seems weird."