Only Four Desire

Chapter 8

“Please, somebody choke so that this night can end.”

“What was that, Roxie?” Margaret asked.

Oh, God, no. Ice replaced the blood in her veins. Roxie looked up, eyes wide at the horror that she’d been overheard. s**t. She hadn’t meant to say the words out loud, but after just half an hour of the dreadful dinner, she would have volunteered to be the victim of choking. Hell, the chunk of barely cooked carrot on her plate that looked as though it had been chopped with an axe would have probably done the job to perfection.

“Uhm.” Roxie willed her heartbeat back to normal. She blinked at her mother, who was seated directly opposite her on the other side of the eight-seater dining table with Adam, her father. There was no way she’d heard what Roxie had said, right? God, Roxie hoped not. She cleared her throat. “I… I was just wondering what the kids are doing. They’ve been very quiet for a while.”

All eyes at the table locked on Roxie, making her wonder if they’d truly heard her. But then Makenna turned her head toward the living room, where the kids were watching a cartoon since she had a perfect view of them from her position at the end of the table.

They were having dinner at Makenna’s house, which was a two-story house in the classy suburban region of the city. But while the house was larger than what Roxie had shared with Elias, the mostly open design of the house allowed for Makenna to see everything the kids did, which was good because everyone knew it was the worst idea to leave four boys, the oldest barely ten years old, without constant supervision.

“They are fine,” Makenna told the room, turning back to her plate.

Roxie nodded. Quickly, she grabbed her wine glass and took a gulp, all the while avoiding her mother’s scrutinizing gaze, which was hard to do when she was in the woman’s direct line of sight.

In fact, she was in everyone’s line of sight, and it felt like she was seated in an interrogation room with four moody detectives.

Makenna and her husband, Terry, took up the seats at the ends of the table, while Margaret and Adam were opposite Roxie, who had taken the middle seat on the other side to avoid being closer to either her sister or Terry.

If Benjamin had been around, he would have taken the seat next to her and taken some of the attention off of her. But her brother had stuck to his promise and ensured that he couldn’t be here for dinner by suddenly claiming to have a cold.

Roxie was certain no one believed he actually had a cold, but they didn’t call him out on his lie because the truth was that Margaret and Makenna felt Benjamin was an embarrassment to their family, which they absolutely hated to flaunt in front of anyone, even Terry.

That meant that Roxie was alone to face the firing squad. Right on cue, Terry swallowed the steak he’d been chewing and turned his attention to her. “So, how is divorced life going so far?”

The bastard. Roxie’s jaw clenched hard. Of all the questions that one acted like a can of gasoline on an open pit of burning coals that had already been roasting her. The tension in the room multiplied tenfold.

An awkward moment of silence followed, where no one seemed to know how to react. Roxie certainly wasn’t sure whether to respond or pretend she hadn’t heard the question. As usual, their father, Adam, kept his opinions on the matter to himself. Makenna stared at her husband in disbelief. It was Margaret who found her voice.

“I don’t think that is a palatable discussion for such a lovely dinner, Terry,” she chastised with a smile. But any naive notions that Margaret had spoken to protect Roxie were flung out the window with her next words. “Besides, it should be obvious she’s miserable. Elias didn’t look good either when he came to see his son the other day.”

Margaret stopped and shook her head, the image of sadness before she continued. “This is why I don’t condone divorce. It just leaves everyone hurting and miserable.”

“How sure are you that Elias was suffering because of the divorce?” Makenna asked.

“Don’t ask ridiculous questions, Makenna,” the woman snapped. “Are you forgetting he didn’t want the divorce, and your sister just forced it on him?”

For a moment, Roxie couldn’t believe her own mother had just told Terry in one breath that the topic of her divorce wasn’t good for their perfect, civil dinner, only for her to do a one-eighty and spearhead the discussion.

Now, more than ever, Roxie wished someone would choke on their food. Unfortunately, apart from her father, who kept his head down and focused on his food, everyone else had stopped eating, fully engaged in dissecting Roxie’s life.

“What Roxie doesn’t understand is that marriage is about understanding that your spouse is not perfect and can make a mistake. It’s your responsibility to forgive that mistake and move forward,” Margaret said.

“Do you believe that goes both ways?” Makenna asked, surprising Roxie, who’d decided to keep her mouth shut and pretend she wasn’t there. Roxie thought her sister never questioned anything.

But before Margaret could answer, Terry cut in, his eyes fixed on his wife. “Maybe in other matters, not infidelity. A woman’s infidelity can never be forgiven by a man, I can guarantee you that.”

Roxie hadn’t thought it was possible, but the tension in the air seemed to amplify with those words, making her wonder if she was still the topic of discussion or if there was something she’d missed.

Roxie’s gaze moved from Terry to Makenna, immediately catching how her sister’s gaze dropped to her plate and refused to meet her husband's. Huh?

Roxie turned back to her parents, wondering if they’d caught on to what she was seeing, but they both looked oblivious. Or in the case of Adam, the man only seemed interested in the food remaining on his plate, and even when he lifted his gaze, his expression was blank as though he refused to have an opinion on the matter one way or the other. Margaret, on the other hand, had several opinions and didn’t shy away from sharing them, her food all but forgotten. “Thank goodness women are very rarely caught up in such messes. It’s not in our nature to have multiple… partners.”

Terry arched a brow. He looked almost amused. “Are you sure?”

For the first time, Margaret actually looked offended by the topic. “Well, maybe some women have no proper upbringing and would do that.” Her narrowed gaze fell on Roxie. “At least I brought up my daughters well. If you’d been the one in the wrong, I wouldn’t have allowed you back under my roof.”

“I know,” Roxie simply said, because she had no doubt her mother spoke the truth. Margaret wouldn’t have hesitated to disown Roxie if she’d been the one unfaithful in the marriage, but somehow, the woman expected Roxie to forgive the same crime from Elias because he was a man and it was her duty to forgive.

“Good,” Margaret said with a nod and then returned her attention to her food as though the last ten minutes hadn’t happened. What the hell?

Irritation suddenly hit Roxie, and her lips parted to ask her mother if she was normal. But before the words could leave her lips, and she regretted it, Makenna stood from her seat, snagging everyone’s attention at the table.

The woman smiled, and if Roxie hadn’t known her sister for her entire life, she might have bought it. The smile didn’t reach Makenna’s eyes, and when she spoke, her voice was strained.

“Please excuse me, I am going to check on dessert.”

Suddenly needing answers for her sister’s weird behavior, Roxie stood up as well. “I’ll help you.”

Roxie wasn’t sure what she expected from her sister, but she was certain it wasn’t the withering glare she got. That just made her more curious to find out what the hell was going on.