Chapter 15: No Place at the Table

Brynn blocked Laurel from joining our table before my aunt could pull out the empty chair.

'You can answer from there,' she said. 'You don't need to sit with us.'

The relatives around the Northfield table stopped talking.

Laurel held her bag against her side. She had come because she promised she would.

My aunt's hand stayed on the back of the chair.

'I can stand,' Laurel said. 'I came to answer.'

Brynn stepped aside, but she didn't offer Laurel a seat.

I watched Laurel look at the chair, then at me.

She wanted me to make the room easier for her. I couldn't do that.

'Should I leave?' Laurel asked.

Brynn answered before my aunt could.

'No. Stay and answer them.'

My cousin had blocked her from joining us, then told her not to escape.

My aunt let go of the chair.

'You can speak here,' she said. 'Nobody is making room for you.'

Laurel set her bag beside her shoes.

She stayed standing, her fingers gripping the strap.

'I'll answer whatever you ask,' she said.

My aunt looked around the table. Nobody offered Laurel a seat.

A relative across from me leaned forward.

'When you heard Cassidy struggling to breathe, did you call for help?'

Laurel's hands closed around each other.

'No,' she said. 'I went back to the party.'

Nobody interrupted her.

I kept my fingers flat on the table. A small nick in the wood sat near my thumb, and I fixed my attention on it.

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