Page 105 of Rastor

Chloe took a long, deep breath, as if trying to get a grip. I risked another glance and didn't like what I saw. She was leaned back in the seat again. Her eyes were shut, and her face was pale as death.

"Aw c'mon," I said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, "it can't be that bad."

"I hope you're right." Her eyes were still shut. "And this time, you'll be there, so–" She shrugged and let the sentence trail off.

"So? Go on."

"Well, normally they're a lot nicer in front of strangers." After a long pause, she opened her eyes to look at me. "And you're a stranger to them, so–" She shook her head. "Crap, I don't know. What if it backfires?"

"Chloe?" I kept my voice low. "Are you scared?"

She turned to look out the window. "No."

She was lying. I'd seen plenty of fear in my life, but whatever this was, it hurt to watch. For the life of me, I couldn’t see what was so scary about a Thanksgiving dinner.

"Baby, what is it?"

"Okay, here's the thing." She blew out a long, shaky breath. "I almost never go there, and when I do, it's always awful."

"What's so awful about it?"

"Like my dad," she said. "Whenever he has company over, he starts talking funny."

"How so?"

"Well, he's a commercial real estate broker–"

"A salesman?"

"Basically," she said. "So he's always trying to bond with whoever he's talking to, but he never gets it quite right."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, one time, Loretta had this Australian couple over for dinner, and by the time we hit dessert, my dad's talking in this weird accent, more English than anything."

I wasn't following. "But you said they were Australian, right?"

"Yeah, and the harder my dad tries to show that he's exactly like them, the worse everything gets. They start talking less. He starts talking more." Chloe was shaking her head again. "I'm pretty sure they thought my dad was making fun of them."

I had to laugh. "Aw c'mon, that's not so bad."

"I guess," she said. "And actually, it's a lot better than how he acts when it's just family."

"How so?"

"Well, when no one's there except us and Loretta, he's either giving me and Josh a hard time or kissing Loretta's butt."

"Who's Loretta?"

"My stepmother, who totally hates me, by the way."

"Oh yeah? Why?" I made a mental note. Loretta. I'd never met the woman, but she was already on my shit list.

"Mostly, she hates everyone, well, except for her own daughter." Chloe paused. "And my dad. Sometimes."

"What about your brother?"

"That's the worst part," Choe said. "She doesn't loathe him quite as much as she does me, but she still has this way of tormenting him, even when she's pretending to be nice."