Jealousy Best Served Devious (Clash Of Cliches Book 1)

Chapter 22- Rencontrer la Famille (Meet the Family).

Chapter 22- Rencontrer la Famille (Meet the Family).

The day of the barbeque dawned bright and sunny, much to dad's relief. He'd been glued to the Weather Channel all week, grinding his teeth if the forecast mentioned clouds. As soon as he was positive that the weather would be amazing over the weekend (it was almost summer in California. Of course the weather was apt to be great), he started prepping the beef skewers, steaks, pork chops, chicken and salmon for the grill at 7am.

I got up about an hour later and, after showering, helped him marinade whatever needed marinating, then started making my specialty, potato salad. Yeah, I make a mean potato salad whenever mom lets me in the kitchen to cook.

Aunt Vivienne was bringing over the mac and cheese, cornbread, and her specialty, apple cobbler. Mom had, after much persuasion, had deigned to make her popular bean salad, as well as indulging Arielle's pleas for ambrosia fruit salad. Now all I had to do was make sure Arielle or Marcos didn't get their grubby little paws into any of the food.

The guests were scheduled to arrive at noon, which meant (at least for mom and dad's friends) that they would be arriving at around 2pm. Arielle had begged and pleaded with mom to let Tyler bring Bandit and, with a stern reprimand to not 'let the dog in my house, under any circumstances', mom had finally relented.

By noon, the only guest who had arrived was Aunt Vivienne. She had come through by foot, with Marc in tow, pushing a granny cart which held the food.

"Why didn't you drive?" mom asked resignedly. "Have you already been drinking?"

Aunt Vivienne plucked a wine glass from the cabinet, grabbed a bottle from the granny cart and poured herself a drink. "Excuse me, Noelle dear, but this is my first drink." She took a sip of her wine and smacked her lips. "Moscato. You should try it. Kaylee, get yourself a glass. You've got to be 18 now."

"In August, auntie," I said, unloading her cart. I was pleasantly surprised to see she had brought the food after all, because I was starting to believe she may have just packed a few bottles of liquor and called it a day. "And the legal drinking age here is 21."

Throwing her mink stole over her shoulder in a dismissive way, Aunt Viv said, "I'll take you to Mexico for your birthday. The drinking age there is whatever." She glanced over the kitchen island at mom, who was standing there, looking at Aunt Vivienne expectantly. "Did I spill something on your sterile floor?"

"No, Vivienne, I'm asking why didn't you drive here? Your car, has it broken down again?"

Shaking her head, Aunt Vivienne said, "Nah. I ran out of gas. I've been stuffing my bra lately, and now I can't find my money."

I giggled at mom's long-suffering sigh and she turned to me, quick as a flash. When parents see you having fun… "Kaylee, your friends will be coming soon. Did you wipe down that picnic table?"

"I did that yesterday!" I lied, scratching my nose to hide the telltale wriggle.

Mom wasn't buying it and she raised a disbelieving eyebrow as Aunt Vivienne looked eagerly from me to her like she was watching a particularly entertaining volleyball game. "Really? Because when I checked ten minutes ago it wasn't done."

"I did it yesterday, five minutes ago!" I protested, my shoulders slumping when mom silently handed me a cloth and pointed to the back yard.

I wiped the table then turned back to the house, my nostrils flaring as the aroma of good, barbequed food swept into my face. God, I was hungry.

Dad was on the deck with the barbeque, dressed in full chef mode complete with mandatory 'barbeque sandals'. He had his little helpers Arielle and Marc with him, even though Arielle seemed more interested in the box of matches dad had used to light the barbeque.