Page 56 of Friends That Heal Us
“I made you cookies,” she says, pointing to the Tupperware on the kitchen counter.
“Really?” he asks, eyes wide as he grabs the Tupperware. He gasps as he opens it. “Oh, my, you made a lot.” My mom peeks over his shoulders laughing. He takes a cookie out and takes a big bite, leaving half of it. His eyes roll to the back of his head. “These are so damn good.” He pulls her into another hug. “Thank you. I will never turn down your baking.”
“The rice is done. Do you all want to eat outside?” Mom asks.
“Yeah,” I reply, and we all head out to the backyard.
Each of us grabs a plate before sitting down. My mom places the bowl of rice in the middle of the table while my dad goes around giving each of us two kabobs of shrimp and pineapple that he takes off the smoker.
The air feels nice. The skies are clear and the sun is shining down on us, giving us some warmth with the slightly crisp air.
The table’s quiet. Too quiet. Everyone is focused on their meal, eyes shifted down towards their plates. All you can hear is the scrape of forks. No one’s saying a word, but we’re all thinking the same thing. The big elephant that’s sitting here that no one will break. I keep my eyes on my plate, chewing slowly, pretending the silence doesn’t bother me. Hopefully someone will say something because what the hell am I going to say?
My dad clears his throat and looks up from his plate.
Thank God.
“Congratulations on the bakery.”
Violet’s eyes shoot up, glancing over at me.
My shoulder lightly touches hers.
“Wait. Did you get it already?” she asks.
I nod. “I wanted to tell you at dinner.”
“Did I speak too soon?” Dad’s lips twitch with guilt.
I shake my head. “It’s okay. I wanted to tell her today, anyway.”
“What bakery?” Dani asks, with a soft thud as she places her cup back down.
“Violet is opening a bakery,” I say.
Violet’s cheeks turn pink as she shies away from everyone’s eyes on her.
“It was the best thing I signed my name on,” my dad says, taking a bite of his shrimp.
“What!” Her brows knit together, her eyes darting between my dad and me trying to figure out what he means.
I shift my body and look at her. “We got the loan under my dad’s name so we could use my shop as collateral.”
Her brows knit together even harder, still trying to make sense of what I’m saying.
“My shop is under my dad’s name. Remember I told you?”
She nods.
“So, to use my shop as collateral, we had to put the bakery under his name.”
Her mouth parts as her eyes stay glued on me. She puts her hands over her face and shakes her head. Her hands fall from her face, staring at my dad. “No. I didn’t want you to do that. That’s way too much, Sean.” Her eyes dart back to me. “If I had remembered, I wouldn’t have let you do this.” She shakes her head again, disbelief written all over her face. “I don’t know why I didn’t put that together.”
I rest my hand on her thigh to reassure her that everything is okay.
“Violet, I’m more than happy to do this for you,” Dad says.
“I’m not even one of your kids.”
