Chương 6: A Family Dinner

The singsong declaration echoed down the hallway as a figure stepped into view, a bright smile written plain across her face. Crisp olive slacks gave way to a matching blazer and dark blouse above. Hair the color of deep oak flowed loose about her shoulders in that particular way that indicated a meticulous level of care. Even her face was absent of a single blemish, save for the subtle shadowy bags that even the best makeup couldn't seem to completely erase. Chandra Miller, Olivia's mother.

The reason for her admittedly dramatic entrance quickly became clear. Two heavy plastic bags hung taut in her grip, one in each hand. They filled the hall with the heady smell of takeout in moments. Olivia's dad looked up, the two pizzas still in his hand.

"Welcome home, honey. I didn't realize you'd be back so early."

"Neither did I!" Chandra beamed, marching into the kitchen.

"I ended up finishing that project proposal even earlier than expected. Why, I thought I'd have to go in on Sunday as well, but now? I'm free and clear!" She lifted the bags.

"So, I thought, why not pick up some dinner to celebrate? And what better place than our favorite Chinese restaurant!" The tall man's gaze darted between the bags and the pizzas in his hands. He smiled, but there was a certain tightness to the corners of his eyes.

"Well, I appreciate that. I just wish you would've said something. Then we wouldn't have gone and cooked these up." Olivia's mom seemed to notice the pizzas for the first time. Her eyes widened.

"Ah! Well, then it wouldn't have been a surprise! Though I suppose that just means we'll have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow then. Unless you want to have a real feast of pizza and popcorn chicken? That certainly sounds like a party!" Dad shook his head.

"No, no. It's fine. I'll put these away." He turned to Olivia.

"Sweetie, will you help your mom unpack everything?" The direct address sent Olivia jolting back to the present. She'd done little more than stand there during the entire exchange, unable to look away.

"Oh! Sure, of course." She hurried forward, encircling her mom in a quick one-armed hug before accepting one of the bags.

"Thank you, Olivia sweetie. Oh, I just have to tell you. That project proposal? Absolutely fascinating. There's big changes coming to sequencing, and let me tell you, it's only going to get faster…" The woman began prattling on about her work as they set out the various boxes of pungent, saucy food. Her mom was the CSO for a up-and-coming biotech company—a position she took great pride in. It was a difficult job, one that rarely freed her from its grasp.

Weekends spent in the office, a deep understanding of every scientific field under her purview, a Raspberry phone glued to her hip like a nicotine patch… A position like that required nothing less than total dedication. It was that dedication that made Chandra Miller an absolute juggernaut in the professional world. It would also be the cause of her parents' divorce later this year. How could I possibly forget? Olivia remained mute as she set the table, an occasional robotic nod her only outward response.

Internally, it was all she could do to keep a lid on her emotions. No, she hadn't forgotten. Not when the event was one of the most consequential of her entire high school career, and arguably her life. There had just been too many other things to think about. All of the other events and details and revelations crowding for her attention had pushed this one to the back of her mind. Or perhaps she'd subconsciously stuffed it there herself. She wasn't sure which was worse.

As much as the revelation made her head spin, it was still nothing in comparison to the implications that came on its tail. Her parents weren't divorced. Yet. But if she wanted to keep things the same as last time… Can I even do that? Can I just… stand by and let it happen? Let their relationship crumble to pieces when I know how it'll end? Arguably, it wasn't her responsibility to fix her parents' marriage. She was a child, after all. Only she wasn't. Not really. Olivia squeezed her eyes shut. I…

I told myself I'd walk the same path as I did last time. Besides, they both got remarried— get remarried—so everything works out. Eventually. After a few really, really unpleasant years. She tried to rationalize. It didn't help. It wasn't just about herself, either.

As much as she didn't want to relive those days of shuttling back and forth between homes, fretting over the moral calculus of which weekends to spend with whom while also giving the topic as wide a berth as she could possibly manage, it wouldn't be the end of the world. She'd survived it once. She could do it again. But did she really want to subject her parents to their own slices of hell as well, knowing the whole time that she could have at least tried to save them?

"All right!" Her mom clapped her hands together suddenly, causing Olivia to jolt in surprise.

"Who's hungry? I know that I certainly am. So, let's eat!" Olivia forced herself to set the moral quandary aside for now. Trying to work through it would take a lot more time and focus than she could currently give. Better to stay in the present. But she resolved to come back to the issue later. She and her parents settled in at the table, her dad at the head as Chandra and Olivia sat across from one another.

Chandra plucked a box from the cluster and began transferring scoops of shrimp slathered in golden sauce onto her plate.

"Help yourselves!"

"Thanks again for dinner, honey," Olivia's dad smiled. The slight tension that had marred his expression before had faded, though Olivia thought she could still detect a faint trace of annoyance. Maybe she was imagining it.

"Of course, of course!" Mrs. Miller waved him off as she preened under the praise. There was no indication she'd noticed the same thing as Olivia.

"It was all I could do not to sneak a bite on the way over. The smell was torture. Oh, and don't worry, sweetie—I made sure to get your favorite!" The woman gestured proudly toward twin containers of fried rice that had been surreptitiously placed near her. Olivia stared at them uncomprehendingly, but responded anyway.

"Oh! Thanks, mom." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. She dug through her memory. Fried rice? Since when had that been her favorite? Orange chicken or cumin beef maybe, but… … It's probably another misunderstanding, she concluded. I probably mentioned that it was pretty good at some point, and she took that to mean I'd live off the stuff if I could. Her mom had the habit of doing that. Even the restaurant whose food they were currently enjoying was a victim.

The White Lily wasn't bad by any means, but certainly not the best food around. Heck, it wasn't even the best takeout. But Olivia's mom had somehow got it in her head that it was everyone's favorite, and absolutely nothing could disabuse her of that notion. Olivia dished herself up a bit of extra rice to be polite. The rest of her plate quickly populated with the other offerings as well, though she tried to minimize the amount of sauce drenching the food.

The trio dug in, all conversation falling silent for a moment as they sated their grumbling stomachs. It wasn't long before the edge of hunger was blunted, however.

"So… Like I was telling you, those new sequencers we got placed? Absolutely killing it. But if we can get those longer reads that Gray is working on—" Dad cleared his throat and gave Chandra a pointed expression.

"Let's keep the work talk away from the table. All right?"

"Oh, fine. If you insist." Chandra rolled her eyes, then looked expectantly toward her daughter.

"So, sweetie, are you ready for school? It starts soon, right?" Olivia nodded, taking a bite of her rice. It was aggressively mediocre.

"Yup. On Monday."

"Monday! Goodness! Time flies, doesn't it? Are you excited?" Olivia waffled a bit.

"Excited? I guess you can say that. I'm honestly starting to feel a bit more nervous than anything, though." It was becoming more true by the hour. She was really starting to worry about how she'd manage in that setting. In theory, it might be easier than managing interactions at home—it was more structured and predictable, after all, not to mention that most people wouldn't know her. But still… Her mom waved her chopsticks dismissively.

"Oh, you'll be just fine! You're more than capable, sweetie! Especially with the classes you're taking…" The woman frowned.

"Honestly. I still can't believe they don't let you take most of the advanced ones until your second year. It's such a disservice! Can you imagine how much further along you'd be without that rule? I mean—""I think it's fine," her dad interjected.

"It'll give her some time to settle in, figure things out a bit before really throwing her in the deep end. Right?" Chandra scoffed.

"Going from middle school to high school isn't as big of a deal as everyone tells you. Besides, our little Olivia wouldn't be overwhelmed by something like classes so easily. Right, sweetie?" Olivia nodded slowly, taking advantage of a mouthful of food to avoid speaking aloud. Her mom was more right than she realized. I can't imagine that classes will be an issue this time around. But it has been a while since college. Maybe I shouldn't be too overconfident…?

"Oh! By the way…" Her mom grinned widely.

"Applications for high school internships at Luminix are opening in a few months. Generally, they only take juniors and up, but I'm working on getting them to relax that requirement." Her dad's lips pursed at the mention of work again, but he remained silent. It wasn't directly talking about the subject. Meanwhile, Olivia's eyebrows rose. She'd forgotten about the internship.

"Oh, no need to thank me," her mom preempted, chuckling.

"I've always thought that it's a dumb rule, anyway. A complete and utter oversight on their part. It's never too early to start building your college application!" Olivia shook her head in a mixture of amusement and resignation. The internship hadn't left her with the best of memories—a third order consequence of the divorce. Between Chandra's desperation to spend time with her daughter and Olivia's inability to say no, the six-week-long experience had proven… uncomfortable to say the least.

Though she couldn't deny it had been at least a little useful. And it had saved her from having to fret over scheduling visits with her mom, at least for a while.

"Either way, that's something to worry about later," her dad said, rescuing Olivia from further responses.

"No need to stress about it now. Instead, why don't we talk about something else? Like what Livi would like to do with her last day of freedom tomorrow…" They talked and ate, Olivia's dad doing his best to steer the conversation away from work and toward more mundane topics. It was strange seeing her parents together like this again, talking and laughing so casually. Yet Olivia couldn't help but feel the slight tension that pervaded the entire conversation—one that her mom still seemed blissfully oblivious of.

Did I really never notice that something was off? The divorce had come as a complete and utter surprise, a bolt from the blue when it did happen. Even looking back, she had always been of the opinion that her parents had done well to conceal their issues away from her notice. But now? Maybe I was just oblivious, too. Maybe I just didn't want to see.

"... Thanks for the food," Olivia pushed herself back from the table.

"I think I'm going to go upstairs for a bit."

"Leaving so soon?" Her mom's eyebrows rose.

"Well, you certainly were hungry!" Olivia nodded.

"Sorry. I just need to rest for a bit, I think. Want me to put away any of the leftovers?" Dad waved her off.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it. You go rest, sweetie." With a final nod of thanks, Olivia took her plate to the kitchen and deposited the remainder of its fried rice in the trash. With a satisfied belly and only a bit of brain fog, she trudged back up to her room and practically fell into her desk chair with a groan. Dangit. What in the world am I supposed to do about this? The obvious answer was nothing.

She'd made her choice to stay the path, and there was absolutely no arguing that the divorce wasn't a major event. But could she really stand back and let it happen? I don't even know why it happens, exactly. I know that they're kind of distant for obvious reasons, but was it just a natural consequence of that? Or was there something that sparked the powderkeg that blew everything to pieces? Her parents had never exactly volunteered the information, and she'd always been more than a little hesitant to ask.

It was one of those things everyone had very much wanted to put behind them. Now, she wished she had been a little more nosy. Olivia pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes. It was too much. She still barely had a handle on the whole "going back in time" thing, and now this… I really don't want to think about it right now. I need a bit of time before I start to fret about that particular issue. It wasn't like the divorce would happen tomorrow.

Though the exact date was fuzzy, she was pretty sure it happened around the end of the school year. Definitely before summer. Meaning that it wasn't the most immediately pressing issue. Unless there's actions I can take to influence it. Or worse, actions I need to take for it to happen. The thought made her shudder. Maybe the divorce was inevitable, regardless of what she did. They'd both adamantly insisted that it wasn't her fault. But then, who wouldn't? Olivia's hands fell into her lap as she sat up suddenly.

This was getting her nowhere. She needed a distraction, something productive to do. Her gaze alighted on the pile of mostly-hidden papers she'd been working on all morning. Might as well keep planning, I guess. Maybe I need to focus a bit more on the major events this time, though. See how many I can dredge up. I don't want to be caught off guard by another one like this. Nodding to herself, Olivia scooted toward the desk and drew the papers to herself once more.

Saying that she wanted to live her life the same as before was one thing. But being faced with the realities of what that entailed… Maybe this would be even harder than she thought.