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“Hang on a second,” Isra added. “Is this the brother that came unannounced?”
“Yes.”
“That your parents defended?”
“They ... like him more than me. More than my sister too, though with her, they always said she was an accident and they didn’t have time to raise another kid.”
An uncomfortable silence settled over the table, as it always did when I mentioned my shit parents. I hated ruining good conversations like this. Other people were sad for me, but I’d lived with this so long that I’d been through the stages of grief a hundred times over. It was nothing to me anymore.
“Needless to say,” Levi said, “I’ll be making sure I treat her far better.”
“No,Iwill,” Isra snapped. “I cannot stand parents who treat their kids less than. If I can love my stepson as my own, what’s their excuse?”
“Welcome to the family,” Nancy said. “You’ll never get rid of her now.”
“It’s okay,” I replied. “I’m good at being alone.”
“Not anymore!” Isra nearly exploded. “Oh, if I see them again ...” She reverted to Thai, and I didn’t know if even Google could translate it for me.
“I’m sorry your childhood wasn’t the best,” Nancy said. “Luckily, you’ve married into a good family now. Or at least I hope we are.”
Levi watched his stepmom with a wince. “Once you get used to Isra, that is.”
Eventually, Isra calmed down, but was still red in the face as she took her seat.
“When you get back from your honeymoon, we should get together again. Isra can cook for you.”
“We can do it whenever,” I replied. “I don’t think we’re going on a honeymoon.”
“Nope,” Levi cut in. “We’re going.”
“What?” I asked, nearly breaking my neck to turn to him. “But that’s expensive, and this is ... so last minute.”
“But you’remarried,”Isra reminded.
“She’ll figure out the whole ‘what’s mine is hers’ soon.”
“You should convince her with the honeymoon,” Isra said.
“I will. As soon as she tells me where she wants to go.” His eyes met mine.
We hadn’t talked about this, just like we hadn’t talked about moving in together. But since Isra’s and Nancy’s eyes were on us, we would have to find a way to fake it. We would go silent for a bit and pretend we were traveling. That was a good plan.
But even fake honeymoons could have a nugget of truth to it, and I had one place I wanted to go.
“The mountains. The Appalachians.”
“Really?” Isra asked. “Nowhere else?”
“I have good memories there. It’s the last place Gram took me before she got sick, and sometimes it’s nice to go back to those places. It makes me feel connected to her.”
“Then that’s where we’re going,” Levi said. “Any city?”
“Outside of Gatlinburg.”
“Gatlinburg? Really?” Nancy’s eyebrows raised.
“Yes,” I answered immediately. “I know it’s boring but?—”