We're Not Related Anymore...

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Maddie: Present Day

After what feels like days, everyone finally leaves. The caterers help with some of the cleaning of the plates and cutlery. But the rest of us handle everything else. It's near midnight when we finish righting the house. Lilian and the twin girls went to bed hours ago and Josh comes to find me when he's finished taking the trash out. 

"Can you believe this day has already come and gone?" I ask him, thinking of all the hours I spent planning for the funeral. My dad is buried now. He's in the ground and I'll never see his body ever again. I still shudder every time I remember his open casket. 

"Yeah," Josh says carrying the blankets and sheets for my couch. "So now that it's over are you going back to L.A.?" He keeps his back to me as he asks his question, keeping his hands busy arranging the couch for me. 

"I was until your announcement. Congratulations," I tell him, watching his shoulders slump forward. He turns to look at me, running a hand over his face. 

"Right. That." He laughs without humor. "I didn't think she was going to announce that at dad's funeral. Fuck." 

"Well, technically, she didn't. Her dad did," I say remembering Mayor Rowland clinking the glass to get everyone's attention. It's weird when I think about the day now. I expected it to be this huge deal but it's already over. I barely spoke to anyone today, not even Tessa. I guess after all my crying at the funeral, people thought it best to just give me my space. 

"Potato. Pohtahto..." Josh says and slumps down onto my couch bed. I join him and curl my stocking-clad legs onto the couch. 

"Let's talk about it, Josh," I say, reaching out to push the hair that's fallen in his face away. 

"You sound like Mom," He tells me, pulling away from my touch. I try not to feel hurt by his actions. 

"Stop deflecting," I say and busy my hands by fiddling with the frayed edges of the blanket. 

"I don't know what to tell you, Maddie," He says, looking somewhere far away. 

"Are you happy? With Betty, I mean?"

"Dad just died. I'm not exactly jumping with joy about anything," He says and now I know he's avoiding the question on purpose. So I go for the kill. 

"Who's Laney?" Because if he really loves Betty the way you do when you're about to marry someone, your answer is always yes. It doesn't matter if the world is on fire, or if your dad has just died. If you're about to marry the person you love, the answer to: 'Are you happy?' is always yes. 

And so I wonder about the girl Jacob mentioned the other day, the one Josh got so defensive about. And I wonder if his state of ambivalence about his engagement isn't about Dad's death but rather because of this girl.

He looks at me, on the defensive again. "How'd you know about Laney? Did Jacob tell you?" He demands. 

I sigh, leaning back on the couch. I have a feeling our sibling bonding time is about to be cut short. "No. We haven't exactly been conversing with one another as of late," I tell him. 

He glares at me, pushing up from the couch. "Well, however you found out, drop it. Forget you ever heard the name." 

"Tell me you love, Betty," I say to his retreating back. 

He stops walking but doesn't turn to look at me as he says, "You're the last person anyone should ever take relationship advice from, Maddie."

And then he stalks out the door. I grab a pillow and scrunch it down onto my lap. I want to start punching it in frustration but the thought of someone walking in on me doing that is too embarrassing.