“If I go down, I’m taking you down with me.” He points at Monica and despite the very intense environment, I resist the urge to chuckle at their banter.

“CALVIN!” My mother yells. “I’ll deal with you in a second,” she says pointing at Monica. “How? When?” She says turning back to us.

“To be fair, Dad just found out last weekend.” I interject. “We asked that he give us a chance to tell you and we wanted to do it in person.”

“Well thank you for your consideration?” She scoffs before rubbing her eyes. “I gave up smoking before you were born Monica and I haven’t needed one until right this second.” She lets out a breath. “How?”

I notice in my periphery my father gets up and goes into the kitchen. Moments later, he’s back with a ball point pen. “Here, I don’t want you biting your nails and you know how you get.” He hands the pen to my mother and instantly she draws it to her mouth and I stare at her curiously.

“It helps with the urge but this is not about me or this.” She points the pen at us. “Speak.”

“Well—”

“Actually no, first question is when?” Her gaze is hard and cold as she stares at James and I can hear the meaning behind her question.

“I was eighteen.” I answer instantly. “Last Christmas.” I clarify.

“Well thank God for small favors!” Her voice is high, bordering on shrill and I wince at the tone of her voice. “This has been going on for ten months?” I nod, not knowing what to say.

“How long have you known?” She looks at Monica. “Why didn’t you tell me? OR YOU dear husband of mine and father of the children in question?”

My father doesn’t answer and Monica clears her throat. “I’ve known for… a while.”

“What’s a while?” My mother probes.

She pushes her glasses up on her nose. “Pretty much since it started, if you must know.”

“And you’re just fine with it?”

“I was not at first. I had a very similar reaction.” Monica looks at me. “Actually no, I yelled a lot.”

“Gabrielle, I saw the way you looked at James. I found your diaries when you were a child with his name scribbled on every page. I knew you had a crush on him but I never thought…” she trails off. “And James, when did you start seeing her differently?”

Lie and make that shit convincing, James.

“Would you believe me if I said when she was eighteen?”

“No, that sounds entirely too convenient.” She gives us both her signature mom look. The one that says ‘don’t you dare lie to me.’

“I first noticed something was different when she was seventeen. I came home for the weekend and it was like she’d changed overnight.”

Two Years Prior