Family Dinner
The whole next week, whenever Maria came up to the ranch house, Annabelle was plotting and planning.
She was ecstatic about the chance to compete for Miss Rodeo Montana.
She had various friends over to talk about it—not Scarlett and Mia, because she was still mad at them for planning to be in the pageant without her, but other cowgirls she knew.
Maria felt invisible when she was with them.
She preferred to spend her evenings talking to her dad and grandma (if it wasn’t too late in Michigan when she got out of work); hanging out with Savannah, who seemed to have precious few ways of entertaining herself; and exploring the ranch with a book in hand.
She would have liked to learn a little more riding, but she didn’t want to bother Annabelle.
Elijah wanted nothing to do with Annabelle’s pageant, so the twins weren’t spending much time together. Instead, Elijah would go into town or hang out with the cowboys.
Maria didn’t feel as though she were making much progress getting to know her relatives.
Patricia was busy in her office all the time.
What she did for so many hours when Uncle Russell supposedly ran the business end of things, Maria didn’t know.
Patricia was courteous to Maria, but not overly friendly, and she never invited conversation other than small talk about the ranch and Maria’s job.
She never asked about Dad or Grandma Gilbert.
Maria had brought them up casually a few times, but Patricia hadn’t engaged with the topic.
There didn’t seem to be any way for Maria to get through to her.
It was frustrating. Maria wasn’t just here to work a job. She came to connect with Mom’s side of the family, to build bridges between the Austins and the Gilberts. How on earth was she supposed to do that, when the Austins were so indifferent to it?
On Friday morning, Jessie surprised Maria by saying she would get off early today. “Your grandma thinks you should come to family dinner at the house once in a while,” she said.
“What?” Maria put down the pot she was scrubbing. “Why does she want me at family dinner? Are they talking about something important I should know about?”
Jessie shook her head. “I don’t think so. At least, Pat didn’t tell me. She just said she wants you at family dinner and it won’t affect your pay.”
“All right,” Maria said. “I can’t imagine anything stuffier, but I’ll go.”
“You might want to dress up,” Jessie said. “Pat thinks family dinner is pretty important.”
Maria looked down at her bean-spattered T-shirt and wide-leg jeans. “You mean I can’t come wearing this?” She grinned.
Jessie laughed. “I’m sure you’ll find something.”
§
At five-thirty, Maria went back to the house to change. At six PM on the dot, she showed up at the dining room. Eight chairs sat around a table that seemed a little small for the big room. It could be a great table for a cozy family conversation, if the family got along with each other.
Grandma Austin, Uncle Russell, and Aunt Steph were already at the table.
“Come in, sit down,” Uncle Russell said. “My kids are late. They’re probably out somewhere.”
“They’ll be here in a minute, I’m sure,” Aunt Steph said. “I saved you a spot.”
Maria sat down, grateful to have Aunt Steph between her and Grandma Austin at the head of the table.
“Friday dinner used to be a custom around here,” Aunt Steph said.
“During the week, the family tends to scatter, so it’s meant to be a time when everybody can get together and talk about whatever’s going on.
Unfortunately, a lot of us have been so busy the last few months, we keep skipping family dinner. ”
“If your children would stay on the ranch where they belong and not gallivant all over creation,” Grandma Austin said, “we could have a lot more family dinners. Where are those kids?”
“Should I start serving the food?” Aunt Steph asked.
“Certainly not. We’ll wait for them.”
Uncle Russell was on his phone. Grandma Austin looked cross. Aunt Steph looked worried. Maria sat in silence, looking at her plate.
A couple minutes later, Savannah slid into her seat. “Sorry I’m late,” she gasped. “I was down at the barn.”
“Now that, I think we can overlook,” Grandma Austin said with approval. “At least you were doing useful things on the ranch and not running around with silly friends.”
Savannah sighed. “I wish I had some silly friends to run around with,” she said. “But yeah, I was doing useful things.”
“Have you seen Annabelle or Elijah?” Grandma Austin asked.
“No, I think they’re out someplace.”
“Did they forget this was family night? Don’t they realize I take that seriously?” Grandma Austin’s furrowed brow reminded Maria of a Renaissance painting, but she couldn’t remember the artist. Probably one of those artists that liked drawing muscles and facial wrinkles. Rubens?
“Mom, don’t fly off the handle.” Uncle Russell looked up from his phone. “I’m sure they’ll be here. Can we eat?”
“Put your phone in your pocket, young man!” Grandma Austin exclaimed. “What do you think you’re doing? All of you are hopelessly addicted to technology. Possibly not Maria. I don’t think I’ve seen her on her phone since she got here. But the rest of you! You’re glued to those things!”
“Well, I like that,” Aunt Steph said. “You put Russell and me in charge of all kinds of things for the ranch. How can we work without using a screen?”
“If Russell’s doing ranch work right now, I’ll eat my hat!” Grandma Austin said. “Forget it. There’s no point talking about that. Steph, why don’t you just serve the food? Clearly, the twins have chosen not to grace us with their presence.”
It was a gloomy meal, with Aunt Steph nervously chattering about unimportant topics, Grandma Austin severe, and Uncle Russell arguing with her about how many ranch hands they ought to employ on the ranch’s current budget.
Savannah, on Maria’s left, never spoke at all.
Maria had a hard time eating her shrimp and asparagus.
They were good—Aunt Steph knew her stuff—but Maria would rather have been eating cowboy dinner with Jessie and Rob at the ranch kitchen. At least that would have been cheerful.
She missed cheerful meals with Dad and Grandma back home, when they got to eat together on Maria’s days off. Their family wasn’t big, but it was caring. This family seemed to be lacking in the caring department.
At the very end of dinner, Elijah appeared in the doorway. “Oh, shoot! I totally forgot it was family dinner night. Sorry, Grandma.”
Grandma Austin raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you get my text message?”
“Oh,” Elijah said, pulling his phone out. “There it is. Sorry, Grandma.”
“You’d think, with the amount of time you all spend on electronics, you would at least notice when I send you a message on them,” Grandma Austin said. “Sit down. Eat something. Where have you been?”
“Working, actually,” Elijah said. “You might not believe it, but I do work around here. The fence was down on one section on the east side. The boys and I got it back up.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Grandma Austin said. “Fine. I’m not mad. Sit down and eat. And say your prayers! You’re a perfect heathen!”
“Whoops,” Elijah said, his mouth full. “I forgot.”
The mood lightened with Elijah there. Maybe it was because Grandma Austin was happy that both Elijah and Savannah had been doing ranch work. It was still a mystery where Annabelle was. Hanging out with friends, perhaps? She didn’t seem like the type to stay out late working.
§
After dinner, Maria remembered a bookcase in the den that she’d seen while exploring the house with Savannah. She kept meaning to check out some of those books. They’d looked like Westerns and such.
The den was a small room at one end of the house, almost round, with a spiral staircase going down to the basement.
Some people might not have bothered to furnish such an out-of-the way corner, but the Austins had put in bookcases and a couple big deep swivel chairs.
It was the perfect reading nook. Maybe Mom had sat there to read years ago.
Maria came into the den and was beginning to look at the bookshelves, when a sniffing sound made her almost jump out of her skin. Someone was in the farther swivel chair, which was turned away from the doorway.
“Who’s that?” Maria asked, her heart pounding. A burglar? Of course, it could be one of the ranch hands. Or—Annabelle?
“Go away,” a muffled voice said from the other side of the swivel chair. “I want to be alone.”
That was Annabelle, but it didn’t seem like her. “What’s wrong?” Maria asked. “Are you okay?”
“No,” Annabelle said. “I’m not okay. Go away.”
What on earth had happened? It didn’t seem like Annabelle to sulk in a corner.
“Can I help?” Maria said. “You seem upset. Maybe talking about it will help.”
Annabelle slowly turned the swivel chair around. Maria tried not to stare at her cousin’s red nose and puffy eyes. No wonder she hadn’t come to dinner. What had made her cry?
“What are you doing here?” Annabelle asked crossly. “This is kind of my spot.”
“Sorry,” Maria said. “I didn’t know that. I was just here looking for a book.”
“Well, you can get it and go away again,” Annabelle said. “On such a huge ranch, you’d think a girl could cry in peace.”
Well, if she didn’t want to tell Maria what was wrong, there wasn’t much Maria could do.
She hastily looked over the bookshelves.
Lots of Louis L’Amour. He was a good one.
But he didn’t always write westerns, and Maria wasn’t in the mood for a story about boxing or the Alaska wilderness.
She pulled out a small red book. End of the Drive.
From the back cover blurb, it looked promising.
Maria turned to go. “I’ll leave you alone. I wish you would tell me what’s wrong though.”
She was almost out of the room when Annabelle’s voice stopped her. “Tim won’t take me to the dance.”
“Oh.” Maria came back in, sinking into the other swivel chair. No wonder Annabelle was upset. From the way she had talked, she must have been really interested in Tim.
“I’m sorry. That sounds tough.”
“I should never have asked him.” Annabelle’s chin quivered. “What’s so wrong with me? Why doesn’t he want to go with me?”
Poor Annabelle. Maria had just gone through that with Seth. She’d asked herself so many times—why did Seth prefer some other girl to her? Men! She would never understand them.
“I’m sorry,” Maria said. “I know how that feels.”
“Well, you might be the only person who does.” Annabelle blew her nose on a tissue. “The jerk! Why did I even ask? There was no point! Now the whole bunkhouse will laugh at me!”
“He talked to you in front of the whole bunkhouse?” Maria asked.
“No!” Annabelle said. “I’m not so stupid as to ask a guy out in front of all the ranch hands. He was out chopping wood. But I bet some of the guys overheard, or Tim will tell them. I’ll be a laughing-stock. And Grandma will hear I’ve been chasing boys. Mom will too.”
Maria sighed. “Hopefully Tim won’t mention anything to the other guys,” she said. “It wouldn’t be gentlemanly.” But she remembered that conversation she’d overheard. Tim hadn’t scrupled to tell that other cowboy that he had trouble with Annabelle.
“What does that guy know about being gentlemanly?” Annabelle retorted. “A gentleman would take a girl to a dance. Now I’ll have to go with Elijah, and stupid old Tim will probably stay at the ranch brushing horses.”
Maria ruminated. “I’m sorry. Could you go with friends? Do you have to have a date?”
“Everybody brings a date,” Annabelle said. “I’ve been stuck going with Elijah so many times, and I’m sick of it. My friends probably think I’ll be single forever.”
“Annabelle, there’s no way you’ll be single forever,” Maria said. “It’s okay to go to a dance with your brother. I promise nobody will think the worse of you.”
“Except all the people that knew I liked Tim,” Annabelle said. “It makes me so mad. Why doesn’t he like me? Who does he think he’s looking for?”
That was the unanswerable question. Maria leaned forward.
“I wondered that too when my boyfriend broke up with me,” she said.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about whether I could have kept his interest somehow—what was wrong with me, why did he choose that other girl, and so on.
You know? But it’s been a while, and I talked a lot to my dad and grandma about it.
Now I’ve come to the realization that when a guy isn’t interested in you, it’s not necessarily something wrong with you. Sometimes it’s just a mystery.”
“I don’t like mysteries.” Annabelle blew her nose again. “Sorry about your boyfriend.”
“Thanks,” Maria said. “Have you had dinner?”
“No,” Annabelle said. “You think I wanted to sit around with Grandma and Mom and Dad on a night like this?”
“Of course not,” Maria said. “Why don’t you come with me, and we’ll raid the fridge.”
“I don’t feel like eating.”
“It’s important to eat when you’re feeling sad. And not just ice cream, either. Come on.” Maria hopped up and waited for Annabelle to join her.
The coast was clear at this point. Maria found leftover pizza in the fridge. Annabelle ate a piece of pizza and followed it with ice cream.
“Thanks,” she said. “It’s good to have somebody to talk to.”
Maria smiled. “Glad I could help.”
“You know,” Annabelle said, “at least I still have the Miss Rodeo Montana pageant. I can get ready for that. And maybe I’ll meet somebody else. Somebody a lot better than Tim.”
“Uh-huh,” Maria said. “But be careful you don’t rebound to somebody else just because you’re bummed about Tim. I know how that is.”
“Don’t worry, I’m just venting. I won’t do anything dumb,” Annabelle said. “Men aren’t the only thing in the world. I’ve got lots of activities to do around here.”
She blew her nose again. “If my sinuses weren’t a total faucet, it would be great. Well, I’m gonna wash my face and watch Netflix or something. Thanks for the pep talk.”
“You’re welcome,” Maria said. “Anytime.”
She headed off to her room, mulling things over.
She felt bad for Annabelle. She knew how much it hurt, being rejected.
And she was glad Annabelle felt comfortable opening up to her.
This could signal the beginning of a better understanding between the cousins.
On the other hand, Annabelle’s sudden wish to find somebody “a lot better than Tim” sounded unwise, and Maria wasn’t convinced she didn’t mean it.
Hopefully she wouldn’t run out and find a rebound relationship.
Focusing on her rodeo pageant would be much better.