I wasn’t sure I’d ever see the day where Ashley was invited to join in on Sunday dinner, but my mom says it was in hopes that Ashley might see the way or some bullshit like that but I didn’t care. I was just glad that Ashley was coming over.

That is until I opened the door for her Sunday night. She had this mischievous grin on and when she hugged me she whispered into my ear, “I hope you realize that my dinner is going to be made by me and served between your legs.”

Before I could reply she had pulled away and walked farther into my house and into the living room to say hello to the rest of my family. It took me a few seconds but I finally pulled myself back together enough to shut the door and follow after her. I entered just in time to see my mom eyeing Ashley distastefully.

Ashley was sitting on the sofa so I sat next to her but left plenty of space between us, but my mom still gave us a dirty look.

I was pretty much silent during all that talking, instead listening to what was being said in order to be prepared to step in or guide the conversation in a different directions. Luckily, I didn’t need to. My brothers were the ones that were talking to Ashley while my mother’s voice was barely heard.

I did get worried when they made an exit and my mom opened her mouth to say something, but my dad appeared and told us to come to the table, dinner was ready.

Which brought us to where we are now, all sitting at the table, our hands holding the hands of the people on our left and right, our heads bowed, our eyes closed, as my dad said the prayer. Ashley was to my left, my dad to my right, my mom to Ashley’s left, Clay across from me, and Glen across from Ashley.

“Amen.”

We released our holds on each other’s hands and all at once, everyone was going for the food. After a few minutes, everyone had food on their plates and was eating. All that was heard was chewing and cutlery hitting dishes. Then Glen suddenly began talking, with a mouthful of food, and that was it, everyone was talking.