He paused, and I thought he was done. I was about to open my mouth to thank him when he spoke again.
“He was with his battalion,” Cody continued. “It was just a normal day. They were driving along a road. And then all of a sudden, a bomb went off in the road in front of them. They had driven over some wire and tripped it. The bomb totally ripped apart the convoy. A few other soldiers were hurt. But my dad died. Right there.”
He took a deep breath and then looked down at his lap.
It was Mindy who finally spoke. “That must have been really hard on you,” she said. “To have him so far away. And not be able to say goodbye.”
“Yeah, it sucked,” Cody said. He paused. “What happened to your mom?”
Something inside me lurched. It was working. The people around the table were talking.
“She died,” Mindy said simply. “Last year, when I was in eighth grade. She had been sick when I was younger. But the cancer went away, and we thought she was done with it. After a while, she stopped going to the doctor as often as she should have. And then, when they found it again, it was too late. It had already spread. She died really fast. I mean, in a couple of months. They tried chemo, but it didn’t work. My little sister and I were with her. We had to move in with my dad after. He and my mom were divorced.”
“Was he sad?” Kelsi asked in a soft voice.
“My dad?” Mindy asked, turning to her. Kelsi nodded. Mindy considered this for a minute. “I don’t know. I never saw him cry or anything. He told me and my sister he was sad. But he’s remarried. He has a new wife and a little baby now. I think it’s weird for him that we live with him.”
“Do you like your stepmom?” The question came from Logan. It surprised me that he was participating instead of mocking.
Mindy shook her head. “Not really. She’s really young. She doesn’t like us. Me and my sister, I mean.”
“That must be hard,” Cody said.
Mindy glanced at him. “Yeah,” she said. “It is. We don’t talk about my mom very often anymore. My dad gets uncomfortable when we bring her up.”
I caught her eye. “You can talk about her here,” I said.
“With us.”
Mindy smiled at me, a little sadly. “Yeah. I know.”
“My mom died,” Kelsi said in a tumble of words. “But you all know that. Everyone knows that. Don’t they?”
There was a brief silence, then Cody laughed. It sounded out of place after her somber declaration. I looked at him, startled.
“Yeah, we’re pretty much all famous,” he said. To my surprise, Kelsi laughed too.
“Everyone knows you,” Cody went on, “but no one knows what the heck to say to you.”
“Sure they do,” Kelsi said. She batted her eyelashes and adopted a high-pitched voice. “We’re so sorry!”
We all laughed. I hadn’t expected this. I was feeling better about this meeting idea every moment.
“Yeah,” Mindy chimed in. “And then they just stare at you. And avoid you. Because they don’t know what to say after that.”
Everyone laughed except Logan and Sydney. “That’s not true,” Sydney interjected. The laughter died down, and everyone looked at her. “People don’t do that.”
Cody narrowed his eyes. “Yeah they do.”
“You’re just being paranoid,” Sydney retorted.
“Really?” Cody shot back. “And what makes you the expert?”
Sydney’s face was turning red. “I’m just saying that I think you’re all blowing things out of proportion,” she said, her voice rising. She looked to Logan for support, but he was looking at his feet. “Besides, it’s not like anyone means badly by it.”
I hated to make things smoother for Sydney, especially when she didn’t belong here. But I also hated to have us fighting at the first meeting. So before Cody could reply, I cut in. “Sydney, I think Cody just means that people don’t know how to act around us,” I said. “Because they don’t know what to say.”
“Well, what are we supposed to do?” Sydney said. “Act like you’re some kind of royalty or something? Just because you had one bad thing happen to you?”
I stared at her. “None of us expect to be treated like royalty. We just want to be treated normally. And it’s not like having your parent die is just some random ‘bad thing,’ you know. It’s a huge deal.”
“Or maybe you’re just making it a big deal,” Sydney said. “Honestly, Lacey. I think this whole thing is a little silly. Don’t you?”
She looked around the table, smirking, as if it were full of people who would agree with her. I was a bit heartened to see that Kelsi, Cody, and Mindy were staring stonily back at her. I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could, there was a deep voice from the direction of the doorway.
“I don’t think it’s silly at all.”
We all turned to see who had come in unannounced. I practically fell out of my chair. Sam was standing by the hostess stand, his Red Sox cap pulled low over his forehead.