Once Lori entered the living room and sat next to her husband, Helen brightened again. She held everyone’s attention.

“Great! I don’t want to have to tell this twice so if you’d please pay attention,” she said in an octave not her own. She figured over the years the closer she sounded to Melissa, the more seriously Chuck and Lori would take her. Helen gave a quick smile to Joaquin, meeting eyes with him, confirming he was listening as well.

“So we met like six months ago—”

“‘Like’? Don’t you know exactly when you met?” questioned Melissa.

Helen shot her a glare. “No. I’m not some obsessive nut. I don’t sweat the details.”

“And that’s one of the things I really like about Helen!” Joaquin interjected. Helen smirked, he caught on quickly.

“Anyway,” Helen continued, “we met at a bar.” Which was not untrue.

“Which?” asked her father.

“Richie’s.” Also a fact. “But we really hit it off from the start. He complimented my sweater and we got into a talk about alpacas.”

“You know, one of my friends wanted to buy Richie’s once,” Jacob blurted, “but he took a look at the financials and thought the place would tank. Said he’d wait till it went out of business before swooping in.”

“Hell, that place is still hanging on by a thread,” said Chuck.

Helen ignored that exchange and carried on, “And at the end of the night, Joaquin asked me out.”

“Smooth, my man! Where’d you take her for the first date?” asked Jacob.

A heat began to boil in Helen’s face from these constant interruptions. Her train of thought was slowly getting derailed. “We went for a drive.” She had to skew the truth to make it easier for her brain to adhere to a story. “Just around outside the city. It was nice.”

Iseul gasped. “That’s risky, Helen! What if he kidnapped you?”

“She’s right,” said Joaquin. Helen smacked him light enough to seem playful, hard enough to let him know she disapproved of his comment.

“Ma!” Helen griped. “Well, it didn’t happen. We found out we really liked each other’s company and the rest is history.”

“Yep! The good kind of history, not like the dark side with colonialism and slavery and all that.” Joaquin smiled, bringing an arm around Helen’s waist as he forgot one of the ground rules. She bristled, but went along with it.

Awkward laughter from the others peppered the room in response to the man’s remark.

Tom coughed to speak. “What do you do for a living, Joaquin?”

“I work construction,” he answered, downplaying his true profession as Helen had wished. She smiled at that.

“Oh, Helen’s always had a thing for blue-collar types,” said Roger unabashedly. “Guess I’m to blame, bringing her to job-sites in her teenage years.”

Helen’s face grew red. “Dad, can you not—”

“I thought as much since you mentioned Richie’s,” Chuck commented.

A deep sigh escaped Helen’s lungs. Perhaps she would have had an easier time telling everyone in small groups.

“So …” said Roger, “are things getting serious between you two?” He raised an eyebrow at them.

“Dad!” Helen groaned before she eased up on her vocal cords. “You and Ma will be the first to know. Trust me.”

“Promise,” Iseul said quietly.

“Promise,” Helen repeated.

“Do you have a favorite date you’ve been on?” asked Melissa, eyes sparkling.

“Jeez, what is this? Grill Helen hour?” she scoffed. She jerked her head toward Gray. “What about you, Grayson—er, Gray? Dating anyone at school?”

“Well …” he murmured, lifting his eyes to the TV. He scratched his head.

“There IS someone! I knew it!” Melissa shrieked.

“Spill it, Grayson!” Lori demanded with her mouth twisted in a mischievous grin.

Having the Halidays gush over the male heir was the perfect diversion. Relieved, Helen slouched back into the loveseat. She noticed the absence of Joaquin’s arm and was surprised she had gotten used to its previous presence around her.

Gray met each inquisition with a deflection, spurring his family to redouble their efforts. Even Iseul had put down her paperback and posited a query. As Helen watched her family with smiles abounding, everything felt right. It was reminiscent of Christmas vacations past. A time when things were simpler, when she, Melissa, and Gray were children, and the adults seemingly enjoyed each other’s company, or at least pretended to do so for the children’s sake.

Eventually, dinner’s beer came knocking and Helen excused herself to go to the bathroom. Joaquin also made the excuse and followed after her. Lori waggled her eyebrows at Chuck, to which Iseul scoffed.

Helen strode down the hall to the extra half-bath in the family office, thinking Joaquin would take the main downstairs bathroom. However, Joaquin stopped her at the threshold of the office.

“Sorry about my quips earlier,” said Joaquin as he rubbed his nape. “And for forgetting the ‘no contact unless you make the first move’ rule.”

A bit relieved he acknowledged his mistake, Helen shook her head. “It’s all right. You were just being you.” She glanced off to the side. A weak ember flashed in her chest. “And … the contact wasn’t terrible.”

Joaquin’s brow rose ever so slightly.

Her veins seized for a split second. “I think it added to the immersion.”

Helen dashed to the bathroom.

On the toilet, Helen gripped her hair. She had admitted she didn’t mind his touch. Surely Joaquin would have taken that as a sign she was into him. She balked. Helen considered if she did, in fact, enjoy his company. Certainly the man wasn’t awful to be around. They shared some laughs and interesting conversation. If she did like him, then she wasn’t keeping up her end of the bargain. There would be no true feelings exchanged. This was strictly business. Any affection was prohibited. It would be best for both parties. This mantra echoed in Helen’s head. She had to be more careful.

Once her hands were washed and touch-ups to her makeup were applied, Helen went back into the office. She was momentarily spooked when she saw Joaquin’s frame next to the desk.

“Oh! Joaquin! There’s the main bathroom on the ground floor. You didn’t have to wait for this one.”

“It’s okay,” he said as he met her gaze. He tucked his hands behind him. “I thought I’d just use this one and leave the big one for the old man if he needed it.”

“Ah, that’s thoughtful of you,” Helen mused. She then glimpsed a metallic glint at the end of his partially hidden fist. “Whatcha got there?”

Joaquin’s eyebrows shot up, wrinkling his forehead. “Don’t take this the wrong way.” He tossed a watch onto the desk. “I wasn’t trying to—Aargh, it wouldn’t look so bad if I didn’t try to hide it! I’m an idiot.” He raised his hands as if caught by the police.

Helen glanced at the watch. It was vintage. Chuck had a collection of watches gifted to him by various business associates throughout the years. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t care if you were trying to steal from them.”

“I was just admiring it. But huh? You wouldn’t turn me in?”

Helen’s eyes darted to the empty outside hall. She sighed before stepping closer to Joaquin. Her voice lowered. “There’s been some bad blood between my dad and uncle. My uncle kinda screwed Dad over a couple times. I don’t really know the details of it, but about ten years ago I think my uncle made a verbal agreement with my dad to hire him for a large project. However, there wasn’t a hard contract signed. And because there was no legal agreement, Chuck ended up giving the job to another contractor. Things have been tense off and on since.”

“Oh … gee. Sorry to hear that.” Without breaking eye contact, Joaquin slowly slid the watch into the open drawer of the desk from which he scrounged it. He shut the drawer, giving the wood veneer a couple of pats for good measure.

Back in the living room, Helen grabbed a cup of tea to close the night. As the warmth flowed into her hands through the ceramic, she surveyed her family again. The conversation had died down a bit, diminished to more mundane topics now like Gray’s classes and Melissa’s business strategy for her pilates idea. Iseul had picked up her book and Roger leaned into the couch cushions, relaxed and ready for bed.

Helen glanced at her uncle. Chuck looked unbothered as always. A memory pinged in her head. She vaguely recalled sitting on the staircase one evening, afraid to venture to the first floor. Her father was cussing Chuck out over the phone. While loud enough to be heard without switching to speaker, Chuck’s voice held its usual cadence and timbre. Helen wrinkled her nose. He had completely disregarded her father.

She checked on Joaquin sitting by her side. Between watching the claymation Christmas special, he flicked his gaze to Chuck every so often and narrowed his eyes.