She did her best to keep conversation feeling lively and fresh but the truth of the matter was that Rachel always felt as if she were some sort of outcast in situations like these. She was the one who had a job everyone seemed to be enamored with but didnt want to ask too many questions about. Even tonight, as they made their rounds, the questions remained limited to how much travel shed done and generic one-liners about catching bad guys or if she knew any Jack Bauer types. She took it all in stride and did her best to be as social and as friendly as possible. It was harder than she thought it would be, as her mind kept trying to remind her that she was really only here to try to bury her own recent bad news as well as Grandma Tates.

The social interactions went a long way to help with that. All of the conversations she and Peter had were surface-level, as they had never really taken the time to connect or go deep with another couple. They had lots of friends, but no good friends. And that was fine with both of them, as it was one of the many things they had in common. Even back in their dating days, neither had been too concerned with making lifelong friends.

Knowing full well that Mark and Peter were going to delve into conversations about Peters job as a proposal expert for a telecommunications firm, Rachel delicately sidestepped away. I think Im going to go grab us some drinks, she said.

Peter gave her hand a squeeze as she left his side. She noticed that he gave her a careful look as she left, as if making sure she was really okay with being here. She smiled at him but the harsh truth was that she was already regretting the decision to come out. She would have much rather not called a sitter and stayed home with Paige. Of course, it was too late to act on that now. She figured theyd stay another half an hour, make a point to talk to Terry at least one more time, and slip out. Yes, it would be early but all shed have to do was make an excuse about work. No one would ask and no one would pry.

She found the coolers in the kitchen and rummaged around in one. She grabbed an Amstel for her and a Bud Light for Peter, and started on her way out. As she did, though, she noticed the three people sitting at the table. One was a man, speaking in an almost cheerful way about what he was referring to as utter bullshit. The woman beside him was laughing uneasily.