Faith and Lies (Vera Reid, Reid Family Book #2)

Part 20

"So what time should we be expecting Tom?"

Vera's eyes widened slightly before she went back to organizing the food on the tray in front of her. Her mom smiled sweetly, arranging a different tray as everyone else gathered in the living room. They'd been playing charades for the better part of the afternoon and she'd taken the opportunity to run before the scrabble tournament began. Vera, like the rest of her family, was extremely competitive and they could be so vicious when it came to that type of thing. She was a scrabble champion, even better at Bananagrams, and so far, the Reid family undefeated and undisputed champion. 

Still, she wasn't in the mood to play, especially as she watched Echo and Luke practically dripping honey as they watched each other. What a horrible sister she was to be so jealous of her, on any day, but more so today, on Christmas. She hadn't meant to let her parents think he was coming, she'd meant to clear things up with them. The truth of it all was that despite his outburst, despite the fact that he'd run away from their relationship before it could even begin, despite that making him such a coward, she'd hoped he'd see sense. She'd hoped he would realize what a dumbass he was being. She'd almost chuckled at the thought. Oh Tom. She muttered it to herself over and over again because, even though it was over, she had a feeling that it definitely wasn't. 

That was why she hadn't told her mother he wasn't coming. She still had this strange hope that he might. But now, as they stood in the kitchen and she grinned at her brightly, Christmas merriment all around, she couldn't break the mood, couldn't bear to put a damper on things and say it. Can you imagine? Having to tell your mother on Christmas that you got dumped? Nope. Not today. Instead Vera just sighed and smiled. 

"He isn't coming, had an emergency come up." Vera lied, hoping it didn't sound as false as it was. 

"Oh no." Alice said, sounding quite disappointed. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Vera said with a nod. "He said I shouldn't worry. I'm sorry, I mean to say something earlier but I got distracted."

She wanted to sound aloof, unaffected. She wanted to sound as casual as possible. She didn't want her mother to notice. 

"Well, I'm really sorry to hear that. Your dad and I were just saying what a nice young man he seemed like." Alice said, reaching out to place more items on the tray. 

"Yeah." Vera muttered, doing the same. 

"I mean, we didn't get to talk to him much at the wedding so we were really looking forward to grilling him at dinner." Alice said with a smirk, making Vera chuckle. 

"Mom!" She said, unable to contain the laughter as she suddenly remembered what it was like the first time Echo had Luke over for dinner. "I really hope you two weren't planning on embarrassing me."

"Oh no, my love, not me." Alice replied, "but I'm not your father's keeper. He and those brothers of yours are unpredictable."

"I guess I'm lucky he cancelled." Vera said, feeling the exact opposite. It would have been nice to watch her brother, George and her father pick on Tom. 

"Haha. You can't avoid it forever, eventually, you'll have to bring him home." Her mother said, picking up the tray and motioning for Vera to follow.  "Come on. Scrabble isn't the same without you."

"Actually..." Vera said, following with the tray and setting it down in the living room. "I've decided to let someone else win for once."

"You're not playing?" Maru asked as she reached for one of the sandwiches. Everyone turned to look towards Vera. 

"Not the first round." Vera said with a smile, "I'm going to grab some fresh air but I'll be back to beat everyone in a bit."

"Is she good?" She heard Adelia asked Maru.