“Rachel has dance tonight.” Lara offered Shannon her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.” Lara’s tone was warm and kind, but she was taking a close inventory of Shannon who was wearing a casual gray dress and heels opposed to my sister’s yoga pants and Wolfpack sweatshirt.
“Thanks! You too!” Shannon chirped a little too eagerly.
Chuck caught my eye and mouthed the word ‘wow’ as he gave a discreet thumbs-up.
Mom held up her hands to get our attention. “Shall we eat before dinner gets cold?”
Chuck rubbed his hands together. “I’m starving!”
Mom looked at Lara. “Or should we wait on Joe?”
Lara checked her watch. “No, let’s go ahead and eat. I’ll save him a plate.”
Gently, I touched the small of Shannon’s back and nudged her toward the dining room door. I looked back at my mother. “Dining room, Mom?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“Oh, the grown-ups’ table.” Chuck laughed. “This must be a very special occasion.”
Shannon looked over her shoulder at me. “The grown-ups table?”
We all filed into the formal dining room. The table was set with the good china. I stopped at the chair next to mine and pulled it out for Shannon. “When we were kids and Mom threw dinner parties, this was always the grown-ups table and all us kids had to eat in the kitchen.”
Chuck pulled out his chair. “Even as adults, we never eat in here except on Thanksgiving or Christmas.” He winked at her. “You must be a very big deal.”
Dad sat down at the head of the table. “It’s not every day that Nathan brings a lady home.”
“Or any day,” Lara said, helping Carter into his booster seat.
I threw a cloth napkin across the table at her.
Mom clapped her hands together angrily. “Stop it, you two! This is exactly why you still have to eat in the kitchen!”
Everyone laughed.
The meal was fit for a holiday: honey glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, broccoli casserole, homemade rolls, fruit salad, and even though Shannon was supposed to bring dessert, Mom baked a cream cheese pound cake.
“You’ve really done too much,” Shannon said, her nerves still causing her voice to be way too chipper. “I hope you didn’t go to too much trouble for me.”
My mother waved her hand toward Shannon. “This is nothing, my dear. We have family dinners quite often.” She reached over and squeezed my dad’s hand. “We’re very close like that.”
Shannon smiled at me. “Well, I hope this won’t be my last invitation.”
I wasn’t sure why she was looking at me; I didn’t invite her, period.
Lara might have been reading my mind across the table because when I looked at her, her eyes were as wide as mine felt.
“So, Shannon,” Chuck said with a mouthful of potatoes. “What do you do?”
She put her napkin beside her plate. “I’m a reporter for WKNC in Asheville.”
He nodded, impressed.
Shannon was fidgeting. “My daddy wanted me to go into banking like he did. He’s one of the biggest investment bankers in Asheville.”
Well, that was random. And awkward.
Mom and Dad exchanged glances. “Well, that’s lovely,” Mom finally said. “What about your mother. Does she work?”
“Not exactly.” She shifted on her chair. “But she does organize the Ladies’ Social Auxiliary at the Brook Diamond Country Club.”
Mom stopped chewing. The only social club she’d ever belonged to was the PTO.
Shannon flipped her blonde hair back off her shoulder. “And she manages the household staff.”
Staff? I could hear the sound of a plane crashing in my head.
Chuck plucked a stray piece of ham from his beard. “I hired the neighbor’s kid to cut my grass during squirrel season last summer.”
The room erupted in laughter.
“You hunt squirrels?” Shannon asked.
I leaned toward her. “He hunts anything with fur or feathers.”
Her nose scrunched up. “Do you eat them?”
He smiled. “Sometimes.”
She visibly shuddered.
Lara kicked me in the shin under the table, and I flinched.
“Unca Chuck said I can eat da sqwa-wills bwains!” Carter chimed in.
Chuck pointed his fork at him. “Only if you skin it, remember?”
Mom shook her head. “Enough of that talk at the table!” She dropped her hands into her lap. “I swear you all don’t know how to behave when we have company.”
Chuck pointed at Carter. “He brought up the brains.”
I covered my mouth to keep from laughing.
“Charles Mason McNamara!” Mom scolded.