Chapter Thirty Six

It wasn’t as good as the neighbor’s trash, but there was no way she would be able to slip away, especially now.

When Lilith returned to the kitchen, her dad made me jump out of my skin. He was rocking back and forth on his heels, his hands jammed in his pockets, regarding the copious amount of wine that had materialized in the kitchen while he was outside.

“Your strays here, Lilith?” he asked, eyeing her. “Can we get this over with?”

“Oh, stop it,” Lilith said, brushing a few ashes off the front of his pullover. “You love Thanksgiving as much as I do. You can’t fool me.”

“It’s hard not to like all this food,” my dad remarked. “It’s the inane socializing I dislike.”

“Just think of it as the price of admission,” she reasoned. “Besides, you like talking to Lora.”

They both entered the living room in a lull of conversation. At least, that’s what Lilith told herself when everyone looked up first at her, then at her dad. Lora looked worried, but she knew more than anyone else here. Alexei l