Family Dynamics

This was a complete turnaround from the last family dinner she attended. The mood was easy and the conversation, while it touched on business, didn’t revolve around that singular topic. That was mostly due to Lyle, who seemed to be going out of his way to keep the conversation varied and light. When their eyes met, he winked. She gave him an appreciative smile. 

At some point, she caught the intimate looks passing between Colette and Lyle. Her sister reached out to touch his arm not because she needed something, but because she wanted contact. It was shocking. She caught Ariana’s eye and widened her own before jerking her head at Colette, who was positively radiant. Ariana gave her a brilliant smile, clearly happy for the couple who had undergone a drastic transformation since their daughter was born. The ice queen had vanished. Lyle had been an ass in Lisbon, but now he looked more like himself. No. Actually, the fierce scowl he sported too often and that chip on his shoulder was missing. He looked well-rested, a man truly content with his lot in life. It seemed Roth’s presence here tonight had reassured him enough to relax his guard and enjoy the moment. So, what had he done that was so terrible that Roth wouldn’t tell her?

She banished that thought before her mind could supply her with vile ideas and focused on Roth who was staring across the table at Kye, who had dumped mashed potatoes and gravy down his bib. Ariana didn’t seem perturbed by the mess her son was making. Roth seemed transfixed and also concerned as Kye gaily stuffed his face with turkey. She bit back a laugh and turned to Bailey, who was desperate to tell her about her new best friends, Fallon and Coleman. 

When Roth went back for thirds, he received some good-natured ribbing from Lyle and Rami, while her sisters grinned. Roth didn’t talk unless he was specifically addressed, which her brothers-in-law seemed to be doing to make him feel included. She appreciated the effort they were making. His eyes were constantly moving, inspecting, cataloguing. She wasn’t sure what Roth was thinking, deep in Hennessy territory and so far removed from the environment he had grown up in. When Bailey started speaking in French, Roth’s head whipped around. He stared at the little girl intently. Apparently, the fact that her niece and nephew could speak different languages hadn’t been included in his report. Bailey saw him watching and basked in the attention, since he had patently ignored her until that point. To show her niece off a little and to test her fluency and vocabulary, she responded in German. Bailey followed without missing a beat, but when she switched to Hindi, she and Ariana burst out laughing. 

“She’s going to have one up on us,” she told her sister. 

“I’ve been trying to learn.” Ariana shook her head. “I don’t know if it’s because I’m too old or it’s so different from the other languages I know, but I’ve been struggling so much with it. Even Kye has a better grasp on the language than I do.” Ariana gave her daughter a stern look. “That’s the language they use around me when they’re trying to get something past me.”

Bailey fell back into French and continued telling her about one of her tutors who used to live on a sailboat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Roth was still watching her niece intently and wondered what he was thinking. 

**This is a raw draft of Bitter Confessions. Please do not share or distribute.

What do you think Roth's thinking??