We're Not Related Anymore...

The Clean-Up

Jacob: Present Day

Maddie and Josh have the good sense to escape to the kitchen to clean up. I stay at the table to have some quality time with my family but I just end up having to stop Mary trying to kill Shelley every two seconds. What's worse is that Betty decides to draw the table into more 'scintillating' conversation.

"Maddie sure looks different," Betty sing-songs as she stabs a blueberry with her fork and delicately chews on it before swallowing. I know she's just trying to get everyone's reaction with her comment but she's not wrong. Maddie does look different.

When I last saw her, she had bangs and a shy smile. Now she's grown her hair out so that it reaches all the way down her back. She also dresses differently than she used to. The Maddie I knew three years ago had a wardrobe compiled solely out of T-shirts and jeans. This Maddie wears crop tops and short skirts. I had to stop myself from staring too long at her legs earlier. And it's a good thing I did too. If her reaction to me earlier was anything to go by, she would've killed me if she'd caught me checking her out.

I sink back into my chair as I recall my attempt at a conversation earlier. I didn't expect her to fall into my arms again but I never expected her to be so cold either. I guess she wasn't lying when she told me she never wanted anything else to do with me.

When I tune back into the conversation, it's to hear Shelley ask Betty, "What do you mean by that?"

"Only that she dresses a bit... provocatively. Don't you think so, Lilian?" Betty asks and all of us turn to look at my mom.

She snaps out of whatever trance she was in when she finds four pairs of eyes trained on her. "I'm sorry? What was the question?"

"Don't you think Maddie's dressed a bit..." Betty trails off when Maddie enters the room again to put away the washed cutlery. She opens the drawer in the dining room and then turns around after noticing the room has gone quiet.

"What are you guys talking about?" She asks.

"Betty thinks you're dressed provocatively," Mary says blandly and stands up to take her plate to the kitchen.

Maddie flushes red and I can't stand that Betty's embarrassed her. "I don't think you've dressed..." I can't bring myself to say the word 'provocatively'. "I think you look good," I tell her but that only makes the situation worse.

"Of course, you would think she looks good," Betty says with a gleeful smile like she laid out a trap and she's glad I took the bait. I suppose did. I scowl as I watch an even more embarrassed Maddie leave the room in a huff.

"Alright, I have to go," My mom says, pushing herself up from the table. She twists her wedding band around her finger as she leaves the room.

"Why'd you have to say that?" Shelley demands angrily and I don't know if she's talking to me or Betty. "You embarrassed Maddie and now she's going to leave again!" Shelley storms out of the room and I drop my head onto my hands. Of all the times I've imagined this reunion, it's never gone like this.

"So..." Betty says when we're alone. She taps her fingers on the tabletop, searching for a topic of conversation. She shouldn't bother. I'm too mad at her to converse. "How did you find the last exam?"

I'm saved from answering her question when my phone vibrates. I dig it out of my jeans to see who's calling. Laney's name flashes across the screen and I excuse myself from the table to answer the call.

There's a sliding door in the dining room that opens up onto a paved path that curves all around the garden and then ends near the swimming pool. I start on this path as I accept the call.