Karen glanced at Mike and the smile on her face fell. “I’m glad Mike has friends like that. He needs them.”
Zach looked beyond Karen, then back to his sister. “Really? Why do you say that?”
Karen looked away and then stabbed the meat on her plate with her fork. “It’s different in LA. Everyone wants him to be something different.” She placed the steak in her mouth and chewed.
Before anyone could ask more, Karen spoke around her food. “It’s different here. Yeah, there are a few groupie types watching him, but he’s more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him.”
Zach and Rena swiveled toward Mike at the same time. They passed a knowing look then focused their attention back to Karen. “I’m glad you made him visit,” Rena said.
Karen shook her head. “Don’t thank me. Zach was the one who made that happen.”
He smiled at her and continued to finish the food on his plate.
“Where’s Tracey?” Joe asked when they were nearly finished eating.
Zach did a quick look around. He hadn’t realized that she hadn’t shown up. Where was she? He reached for his cell phone but it didn’t show any missed calls or text alerts. “Maybe something came up.”
“Is everything OK with you two?” Rena asked.
Zach noticed Karen look away.
“Yeah. Fine.”
Joe huffed out a small laugh. “Fine? Fine doesn’t describe a woman, ever.”
Rena elbowed her husband.
Before Zach could reply, Eli ran to his father and pulled on his arm. “Daddy, play ball with me.”
Joe pushed his plate away and untangled from the picnic table to play with his son. In his place, Aunt Belle made herself comfortable.
“Is this the kids’ table?”
Rena picked up her red cup. “The kids’ table doesn’t have alcohol, Aunt Belle.”
Belle tossed back her head with a laugh and her gaze fell on Karen.
“So, you’re Mikey’s wife?”
Zach couldn’t help but feel Karen’s discomfort.
Karen swallowed. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Humph! Funny how none of us were invited to the wedding.”
Zach couldn’t look at Karen when she spoke of her marriage. He would leave the table if it didn’t look so damn obvious that he was uncomfortable.
“It was a sudden thing.”
Belle narrowed her eyes. “When did marriage become a thing?”
Karen drank from her red cup and didn’t answer the question.
“Well, I guess that answers that question,” Belle said.
“What question was that?” Rena asked.
Belle had always had a mind unique to herself and didn’t often hold her words in. So what she said next shouldn’t have come as a shock, but for some reason, they blew Zach out of the universe.
“I always thought our Mikey was g*y.”
Rena sucked in a laugh.
Zach forgot to breathe and Karen sputtered the beverage from her glass and choked on the liquid.
Chapter Eleven
Karen’s attempt to keep the white wine contained within her mouth resulted in choking the liquid down her lungs. The alcohol burned up into her nose until her eyes watered. Zach’s strong hand rubbed her back as she fought to catch her breath. Rena was staring at her with a smile on her lips, and Aunt Belle lifted an eyebrow. When Karen glanced over as she tried to gain her breath, she saw concern in Zach’s eyes. “You OK?”
Karen coughed into the napkin and reached for the water. As soon as she was able to speak, she pointed a finger at Aunt Belle and laughed. “That’s a good one.”
Karen hid her face behind the glass of water and kept coughing into the napkin even after the urge to do so had passed.
“Well, I did,” Aunt Belle continued once it was clear that Karen was going to live.
“I think it’s safe to say that’s not the case,” Zach said.
All Karen could do was nod behind her cup and hope to hell her face wasn’t giving anything away.
She searched for the topic they’d been discussing before Aunt Belle sat down and uprooted what felt like an easy role of duping Michael’s family, but whatever they’d been talking about had escaped her brain.
Across the field, she heard Michael laughing. As much as she wanted to go to him now and let him in on the conversation that was taking place at their table, she didn’t.
“Well what about babies?”
“Aunt Belle!” Rena chastised. “They’ve only been married a year.”
“You had Eli nine months after you were married,” Belle pointed out. “Or was it eight and a half?”
Rena’s jaw dropped. “It was eleven.”
Karen felt her cell phone buzz in her back pocket. Happy for the distraction, she pulled it out and checked her text messages.
Is Aunt Belle behaving?
The message came from Judy. Karen glanced around and noticed Judy watching from another table.
Could use a graceful exit. Help!
Karen shoved her phone back in her pocket and waited.
“Well you’re not exactly young,” Aunt Belle pointed out. “Babies are easier before you’re thirty.”
“I’ll take that into consideration,” Karen told Michael’s aunt. The woman was too sharp for her own good.
“Aunt Belle, give Karen a break, will ya?” Zach asked.
She offered him a grateful smile right as she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Hey, Karen? Can you help us settle the debate over who’s sexier, Brad Pitt or Bradley Cooper? We figured you’ve met them both and would know firsthand.”
The smile that spread over Rena’s face was poetic. Even Zach sighed as Karen swung her leg from beneath the table.
“Love to.” Karen grabbed her cup that didn’t hold nearly enough wine and saluted Aunt Belle. “Fabulous talking with you.”
Karen tucked her arm into Judy’s and let her voice travel. “Isn’t it crazy how two men with the same name can be so different? What kind of name is Brad anyway?”
Judy laughed and glanced into Karen’s cup when they were too far away for Aunt Belle to hear her words.
“She’s a crazy old lady.”
“I think she was about to ask me if I was ovulating.”
Judy busted out a laugh. “She’s convinced that Eli was conceived before Rena and Joe were married.”
“I heard that. Are there any other crazy aunts I need to be alert for?”
“No, she’s the only one.”