Memories

XXXI

LONELY HEART

'Your precious heart, can't watch it break
So I close my eyes while you walk away
Can I have a second chance?
Can I have another dance?'

⥎
⥐

"You must be Neil and Kevin." Maria said to the two people now closest to her. "I'm Maria." her polite smile returned instantly. Kevin put on his press smile and nodded.

"It's nice to meet you." he said. Thalia smiled wider instead of snorting a laugh. Maria looked at the twins, and acknowledged Andrew as Aaron, which made Thalia almost actually laugh.

"Aaron," said the right twin.

"Oh, of course," Maria said, obviously embarrassed by her mistake. Andrew smiled wider than he already was, but it seemed more unfriendly than his normal ones, even thanks to his drugs. Nicky was shaking slightly next to Thalia.

"Maria, oh how lovely it is to see you again." he said. "Very interesting, you letting us back into your house and all. I thought you were going to file a restraining order against me. What happened to that, did you lose your nerve?"

"Andrew," Nicky said lowly in a warning, though it fell on deaf ears.

"You can leave your coats here," Maria said. For the first time since she'd left the car, Thalia let go of Nicky's arm. It was almost as if he'd lost all of his support and was going to fall to the floor in a crying mess anytime now."Can't you even tell your own nephews -" Nicky started, but stopped speaking when they entered the kitchen and he saw his father. Luther was all kinds of ugly, and exactly what Thalia had imagined when Andrew had told her very little about him. He looked as tense as Thalia usually felt, and it was clear this whole thing wasn't his idea.

"Nicky, Aaron, Andrew." Luther said eventually, after Maria had abandoned conversation and gone to the stove to work on the food, and everyone else had gone completely silent.

"Hi Uncle Luther," Aaron said. Nicky had gone mute at seeing his father, and Andrew clearly wasn't paying any attention, or at least wasn't willing to add to conversation. Luther turned his attention on the new faces.

"I'm Nicky's father. You can call me Luther." he said. "Welcome to my home." Thalia didn't feel very welcome, but she didn't say anything about it and nodded in thanks.

"You can set that down here," Luther said, gesturing to Neil's racquet. "Please get comfortable. Dinner will be ready in a moment." he said once Neil had put the stick down. Nicky led them out to the back porch, and Thalia sat down next to him, giving his hand a quick squeeze, showing him that he was doing great, even if it didn't feel like it.

When Luther and Maria had brought out all the food, they bowed their heads, and Thalia knew they were praying, but didn't bother with the tradition and instead rolled her eyes. Andrew also didn't pretend to pray, though Neil and Kevin both bent their heads in respect. Andrew tapped his fork along to Luther's words and Thalia smiled, finding it amusing.

As soon as they were done with their prayers, Luther reached for the food. He served the food, and Thalia reached to the center of the table to grab some instead of waiting. 

"Are you religious?" Luther asked Neil. Thalia looked up from where she was reaching for a bread roll and then went back to her task.

"No." 

"Why not?" Luther followed up when Neil didn't elaborate. Thalia picked apart her roll and started eating it while watching Neil. She didn't really care, but listening was something to do, and she figured it would be her answer as well.