Love in Slow Motion

37. Reed

37 REED

Dinner is uncomfortably silent. Everyone is mad at everyone, except for Chase, who’s too stupid to know that everyone is mad at everyone.

“It’s really great to see you again, Amina,” he says, passing her a bowl of pasta salad that Lydia made. “I haven’t seen you in, what, four years?”

Across the table, Amina smiles. She doesn’t know that everyone is mad at everyone either, but that’s because she hasn’t been here all week, living with a group of people who are all lying to each other.

At the end of the table, my mother clears her throat and averts her eyes, fully aware of her role in all of this. I still can’t believe she thought it would be a good idea to invite my ex here. I mean, who does that?

Madison Lynch does. She’s so used to everything going her way, to being able to strong-arm life into doing what she wants it to, that she thought she could use her powers of persuasion on my love life.

And if things were different, if the world had sent us all down a different path, maybe it would have worked. Amina smells amazing, sitting beside me at the dining table. She smells fresh, like flowers and clean laundry. But she might as well be a ghost because all I can see is Quinn, sitting across the table from me, clearly trying to keep a straight face, even as Chase puts his arm around her shoulders and pulls her close.

“Yeah, just about,” Amina says. “And you two are married now.” She smiles across the table at them. “I always sort of thought you would be. You were always so cute together.”

That brings the silence plunging back as Quinn sends Amina a polite smile and then focuses on spearing broccoli florets with the tip of her fork.

We all turn our attention to our own plates, but when I glance up at Sabrina, it’s to find her looking at me like she can’t remember who I am. I heard Amina spill it to her that Aeronaut is closing. I didn’t want to face it at the time, but I know Sabrina will make me face it soon.

“I’m going to go check on dessert,” Mom says, pushing her chair back from the table and turning the corner to go to the kitchen.

The second she’s gone, Sabrina leans over to me and hisses, “Why didn’t you tell me the restaurant was closing?”

Chase’s head pops up. “The restaurant is closing?”

“I’m so sorry,” Amina immediately adds, turning in her chair to face me. “I thought they knew.”

“How did you know?” Chase asks.

Amina shrugs. “I still have friends back in Boston. They’ve gone by the place and seen that it’s empty.”

At this, I think Sabrina’s head is going to pop off. “ Empty ? How long has this been going on?”

I meet Quinn’s eye for comfort. I knew this was going to happen. I knew that everyone was going to freak out the second they found out, and the last thing I need is for the news to get back to Mom. She’s definitely not going to be gone much longer.

Quinn sends me a small smile of reassurance.

I have to get it out quick. “I lost the restaurant to some bad business dealings a few months ago.”

Chase scoffs and tightens his hold on Quinn. Her right eye twitches almost imperceptibly. “Bad business dealings? Are you kidding?”

I ignore him and keep going. “Look,” I say, addressing Sabrina, “you don’t need to worry about it. I’ve got it under control. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I didn’t want word to make it back to Mom before I got a new place figured out. I’ve got a guy looking for a new space, and I’ve got investors lined up. Everything is going to be fine.”

“Investors?”

I turn at the sound of Quinn’s small voice, and when I find her staring at me, I realize what I’ve said. I told her Mom’s money was going to pay for the new place. I told her I needed to be here for that money. Now she knows I lied.

We can’t have this conversation here in front of everyone. They don’t know the plans in my head or the kinds of things Quinn and I have been talking about all week. They don’t understand the confusion on her face or her realization that I’m just as much of a liar as Chase is.

“It’s just—” I start, but then Mom appears, taking her place at the table again.

“Dessert is done. I had to beg Reed to let me make it this once.” She smiles around the table, clearly expecting a polite laugh, but no one gives it to her. Sabrina is still looking at me with suspicion in her eyes, Quinn’s mouth is hanging open in confusion, Chase has clamped his lips shut, clearly not intending to out me to our mom, and I can feel Amina’s eyes still on me, probably trying to figure out if I’m mad at her for spilling my secrets.

When she sees that no one is engaging with her, my mother keeps pushing. “I don’t think I’ve gotten to the be the one to prepare desserts in years. Since…wow, I don’t know…maybe since Quinn’s first Thanksgiving with us.”

At that, Quinn’s attention is caught. She looks over at my mom, her eyes a little unfocused. “Thanksgiving?”

Mom smiles big, clearly happy that someone at this table is going to have a legitimate conversation with her. “Yes. That would have been, what, five years ago?”

Sabrina, seemingly calmer now, says, “Yeah, that was the first time we all met Quinn.”

“Not me.” I don’t know why I say it. It just bursts out of me, like trying to hold a rabid animal inside an unlatched cage.

All eyes shoot to me, and Sabrina says, “What do you mean? That was the first time you met her. That was the first time we all met her.”

I’m already shaking my head, and across the table, Quinn’s cheeks have gone pink. “No, Quinn and I met before Thanksgiving. We met at the Halloween party.”

Chase’s eyebrows furrow and he looks from me to Quinn. “What? The same Halloween party we met at?” He’s clearly expecting Quinn to answer, but she’s just looking at me. He pulls his arm from around her and leans across the table toward me. “You never said you guys met before that night.”

I know I’m not doing this right. I know I’m going to raise questions. But I’m starting to feel desperate. This week is almost over and everything is starting to fall apart, and I want to tell everyone at this table that Quinn is mine.

But instead, I look over at my brother and suffuse my voice with a casual calm. “It slipped my mind. Just remembered recently. I was so drunk that night.”

Something has pulled tight between the three of us, stretching and stretching, until my mom’s voice breaks in.

“Well, how cool! What are the chances!”

“Yeah,” I say, not taking my eyes off Quinn. “What are the chances?”

At this, Quinn finally seems to break. She turns her face toward Chase and I see her arm move under the table, like she’s patting his knee. “We just bumped into each other in the hall that night. It was like two seconds. I didn’t even recognize him at Thanksgiving. Weird how that happens.”

It’s almost believable. Quinn has one of those faces, soft and innocent, that makes her seem like she would never lie to you. So, when she says this, everyone believes her, even Chase. The thick air dissipates into something more pleasant, and the storm cloud that was hovering over us seems to burst.

But I know the truth. She remembered me at Thanksgiving. She still thinks about that night outside the Halloween party. I know she does. Because when something like that happens, something that fundamentally changes you forever, you never forget it.