Chapter 17
As I expected, the first family gathering post Robin and me fake dating is tense. When I step onto the back porch, where everyone is congregated, the group goes dead quiet.
If glares could burn, my T-shirt and jeans would be full of scorched holes.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Marvin says, voice deep and chiding.
He’s the second-youngest Kraut. It goes Fred, Daren, me, Marvin, then Stewart—who was a surprise to Uncle Jensen and his wife—now ex-wife—later in life, born seven years after Marvin. Stewart is set to graduate high school this spring and normally looks at me like I’m one of his favorite people in the world.
“Does someone smell skunk in here? Pretty sure I just got a strong whiff,” Fred calls out from the grill.
“Yeah, I smell it too,” Stewart adds. Today, I guess he’s on Team Arthur Sucks.
Daren doesn’t say anything, just glares at me with hard eyes.
I don’t bother responding. All my cousins are big talkers while I’m the quiet one. I think it unnerves them sometimes, how little I say when we’re arguing or going a round.
My boots land heavy on the old wood of the porch as I make my way over to my dad. He leans on the railing, sipping from a beer, gaze on me.
I can’t read his expression. Is he pissed at me too?
Once my mom passed, Dad made sure I spent as much time as possible with my cousins. Didn’t want me to be alone in the world. Wanted me to know I had family.
Does he see this as a betrayal?
Daren’s the one who messed things up, I want to point out. But they’ve probably already laid into him about that. My dating Robin is a separate issue that deserves its own retribution. And I can’t even tell them the arrangement is fake because that would ruin her revenge plan.
A plan I think she has every right to enact.
“I’ve got the steaks—oh.” Uncle Jensen pauses in the sliding glass door that leads from the house to the deck, his grin transforming into a scowl. “You’re here.”
He says this as if there was a chance I wouldn’t come. But hiding from the Krauts would only make the situation more tense.
I grunt a greeting, which is normal for me. But my uncle’s frown deepens. He slams the raw steaks down on the table, red droplets of meat juice splattering like a crime scene over the wood surface.
“Too cowardly to bring your new girlfriend with you?” he accuses, eyes on fire.
I didn’t even consider it. In the past, Robin had been a fixture at these gatherings. But I knew she wouldn’t want to see Daren. Wouldn’t want him trying to convince her to take him back. Wouldn’t want to play pretend with me around these people, who mattered a lot more to her than the random townsfolk at Genie’s.
“Let me handle this, Jensen.” My dad straightens from where he was leaning, stern face directed at me. “I think my son and I need to have a talk.”
Shit. Dad is mad.
That doesn’t happen often. People might see the big guy with his beefy build and wild gray beard and deep, rumbling voice and assume he angers easily. But Sherman Kraut has always been a gentle giant.
Getting him riled up is a hard thing to do.
He claps a heavy hand on my shoulder and guides me off the porch. As we circle the corner of the house, he starts in on me.
“Now, see here,” Dad booms. Then, we’re out of sight of the rest of the family, and he turns on me with a wide grin and lowers his voice. “Good job, sonny boy! Didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Huh?”
Does he not know what the rest of the family does?
“Robin Dunn.” He slaps his thigh and chortles. “Hell, I’m proud of you. That’s a fine woman. You treat her right, you hear?”
My mouth hangs open as my father pulls me in for a hug.
“Been waiting for you to find someone. Can’t do better than Robin. She’s sweet and strong, and she knows her way around an engine. Just like your mama.” His eyes go hazy, the way they always do when he mentions his wife. “Nimisha woulda loved her.”
“You’re not mad?” I ask warily.
The comment about my mother is hard to process. I only know the woman through my father’s memories and my grandparents’ stories. I never considered if she would sign off on the person I dated.
I find I like knowing she would’ve approved of Robin.
Dad scoffs. “Of course not. Gotta pretend for their sake.” He throws a thumb in the general direction of the porch. “Might stir up enough drama for one of those Bollywood movies your mother used to show me, but no matter. Yer uncle’s just surly because he lost out on the best daughter-in-law a family could hope for. He’ll get over it. Specially since she’s stayin’ in the family.”
Guilt sits heavy in my stomach. I didn’t think about how this farce might make my dad happy.
What’s going to happen when it ends?
He’s still chuckling to himself. “Always thought Daren lucked out when he convinced Robin to move here. That boy don’t know where his brain is half the time. Guess Robin finally caught up and grabbed herself a better Kraut.” He gestures with his beer toward me. “You bring her around the house for dinner sometime soon.” He tilts his head back toward the gathering. “Give ’em some time. Few months. Maybe next year. One of them will fuck up, and this’ll just be what they bust your chops over in years to come. And they’ll be happy to have Robin come back around even if she’s with you now. The teasing won’t bother you much. ’Cause you’ll be with her.” He loops an arm around my neck. “Bet it took one kiss. One and you knew.” He squeezes me in a happy hug. “When you find the right one, it’s all worth it.”
A small part of me, living deep in a shadow of my chest, wants to ask if it’s worth it even if you lose them in the end. Or lose your family along the way.
If my mom were still alive, maybe she could tell me.
Nimisha Anand came to the States from India to study engineering at a college in Nashville. Her parents always expected her to come back home and stay. They did not plan on her falling for a small-town wedding planner in the United States, marrying him, and applying for citizenship.
When my dad first showed up at her parents’ house, begging for a chance, did they greet him with glares and harsh comments? Is that how he knows this animosity is nothing when you have love on your side?
But I don’t have love, I remind myself.
No more than a friend feels for a friend.
But what I do have is conviction. I know that what Daren did is wrong, and I want to help Robin get over her heartbreak in whatever way she needs.
I also know my family will forgive me.
Eventually.