“No, it’s fine,” Martha says. “There are those who do, and those who write the checks. It all makes the world go around. When you do have a moment to relax, what do you like to do?”
She’s good—moving on quickly after her dig at my money. What is it about this family and money? I thought it before about Emily and now I see where it comes from. They really hate money. I’ve never known such a way of thinking could exist.
“Honestly, in the past few years I haven’t even had time to even take a vacation. Pathetic, I know. Work is just so demanding that it takes up almost all my time.”
“Is it fulfilling?” Martha asks. “Working so much?”
“Fulfilling?” I repeat, as if I don’t know the meaning of the word—and maybe in this context, I don’t. I work because it’s what I do. I work because it’s expected of me. I work because it’s been drilled down deep in me, into my core, that I have to work harder and longer and better than anyone else—including my brothers. “Yes, I suppose I like what I do. It is rewarding.”
“That’s wonderful,” Martha says. “And not to harp on the issue but I bet you’d feel even more rewarded if you found the time to do a little volunteer work. It doesn’t take much to make a difference in a life.” She smiles like she’s not harping on the issue.
“Well, you’ve certainly all made me think,” I say—or rather, I lie.
We finish the rest of the meal with the sort of pleasantries this afternoon should have been filled with. Sabrina talks about her professors and some guy she’s seeing and Dax talks to his father about ways to increase volunteer services at the non-profit he works at. He makes sure to shoot a few side-eyes in my direction. I want to ask, What the fuck did I do? For such a sweet family, these people seem like a bunch of assholes. Sabrina gets a pass, I suppose. She didn’t say much, but at least she didn’t insult me or take shots at me.
One thing is for sure: this brunch did not go as planned. Now I have to go back and figure out where it all went wrong. But first order of business is getting the hell out of here and back to the sanity of the city.
Emily
We’re all about to move into the living room for more conversation. I see this as a fresh start to get things back on track after the contentious brunch. But it seems that Jackson has had enough.
“Emily?” he says. “We should head back into the city.”
“You think?” I glance at my watch. It’s not even noon.
“You don’t have to get back to work now, do you, Jackson?” Dad says. “On a Sunday?”
“I’ll probably stop in for a little bit,” Jackson says. “Get a little jumpstart on the week.”
I stare at Jackson for moment thinking, Really? You’re going into work today?
Dad turns to me and says quietly, “Sweetie, will you be okay?”
“I’m fine, Dad,” I say as he kisses my cheek.
“You’ve raised a very independent young woman,” Jackson says. “Emily is great at taking care of herself.”
We all walk to the front door, Sabrina and Dax calling out how nice it was to meet Jackson even though I know they don’t like him. None of my family likes him. This has all gone terribly wrong and I’m not sure why or how.
“Nice car you got there,” Dad says, stepping out onto the front steps. Dad has never cared about cars. I can’t tell if he’s being nice or condescending.
Mom stops me before I can follow Jackson out.
“Emily,” she says. “What are you doing with this man?”
“Mom,” I say. “Don’t.”
“He’s nothing like us. He’s nothing like you.”
“If you’d given him a chance you’d have seen how kind he really is. And he treats me really well, by the way,” I say, hating that I’m defending him. “You guys were all way too hard on him. You were rude.”
“We were not hard on him. And maybe he does treat you well—with gifts and fancy dinners?”
“No, Mom, that’s not what I meant…”
“Actions speak louder than words, Emily,” she says. “The action I see is that he’s going into the office on a Sunday. He can’t even spend one whole day with you? What kind of partner is that? You deserve better.”
“You only got a snapshot of him today,” I say. “He’s more than his job.”
“Sure doesn’t seem like it. Honestly I don’t know a single other thing about that man aside from his job. And that I could have learned that from Google.”