Despite the buoyant charm of her ex-maybe-future-in-laws filling the room like bubbles, Olivia’s insides roiled. This was another game show trope. A veritablemeet the familylike a hometown visit on a dating show. Throwing Chuck’s adoring and adorable parents into the mix was sure to stir up drama one way or another. She could tell something was amiss already based on the nervous glances Chuck kept stealing at her.
Not to mention, they’d been seconds from screwing each other’s brains out in the pantry when the doorbell rang, and she could tell by the flushed fluster on Chuck’s face that neither of them had recovered yet.
“Sweetheart, will you help me with these?” Barb asked, and swanned back toward the open front door. She wore a pair of linen capris and a flowing blouse covered in a tasteful palm print that looked entirely like a Google search result forWhatto wear to L.A. for a middle-aged woman, and Olivia loved her all the more for it.
Chuck obediently trailed after her and stopped precisely at the door’s threshold. Barb had stepped back outside and was now lifting grocery bags into Chuck’s waiting arms.
“You went shopping?” he asked as she loaded him down.
“No. A very nice young man named Taylor—”
“Tyler,” Sam cut in.
“Tyler,” Barb corrected, “called when we landed at the airport and asked what we wanted for dinner. It caught me off guard, but then, we’d been flown first class, and had someone waiting for us with our names on a sign just like in the movies—what was his name, Sam?”
“Grayson.”
“Yes, Grayson. Also a very nice young man. Anyway, the point is, they’ve rolled out the red carpet for us, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when someone called and asked what we wanted for dinner too.” She looped a bag over each of Chuck’s arms and balanced one more in his hands. With the heft of it, Olivia wondered what kind of feast they were in for.
“Your father has been eating rather bland because the painkillers cause—well, we don’t need to get into that,” Barb went on, and lifted the final bag herself. “But this is a special occasion, so I made a special request, and Tyler—such a nice young man—had all this waiting at the gate when we got here.”
“This looks like a lot, Mom,” Chuck said, and turned back inside, careful not to smash into anything with his new load.
“Well, we only see you a few times a year, Charlie, so we’re going to take advantage. Oh! And they also told us to give you this and asked that we tell you not to read it in front of us.” She held up a finger at each word like she was reciting specificinstructions and fished a familiar envelope out of the bag she held to hand to Chuck. “Where’s the kitchen?” she asked, as if a mysterious sealed envelope wasn’t an odd thing to hand over.
“It’s this way, Barb. I see it through the doorway,” Sam said, and pointed with his cane.
They walked off with the camera crew in tow, still chattering, and Chuck and Olivia knowingly looked at each other.
Chuck let out a sigh and handed the envelope to Olivia to open, since his arms were still loaded down with grocery bags.
She took it and slipped her finger under the seal. One of the cameras had followed Chuck’s parents while the other stayed with them. She cleared her throat and read.
“ ‘Olivia and Chuck, we hope you enjoy your surprise Sunday visit. There is nothing as special as family time. Barbara and Sam Walsh know nothing about the premise of this show aside from the fact that you are living in this house together on camera. We have confirmed that they are in the dark about other information as well. By the time they leave this house tonight, you must have told them the truth about either the end of your relationship or that Chuck was fired fromSafe Gamble, or you will be docked fifty thousand dollars each. The choice is yours. Enjoy dinner!’ ”
Olivia finished reading with bitter disbelief stinging her tongue and looked up to see Chuck having gone ghostly pale. This was less ameet the familytrope and more some warped version of Two Truths and a Lie. She glanced down at the letter as if the words would rearrange into something less downright cruel and looked back up at him, at a loss.
“This is really messed up. I’m sorry, Chuck. How do they even know you haven’t told your parents these things?”
He was still blinking in shock. His mouth popped open, and his voice softly spilled out. “Because I said as much. On tape.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “Remember that day we were arguing in the bedroom, and I called you a nepo baby?”
“Of course. How could I forget?” Her words came out bitterly, but she couldn’t blame him for the unpleasant callback given he was in such shock.
“Well, I also confessed that my parents didn’t know I’d gotten fired or that we’d broken up, remember?”
She thought back to that day, and the memory slid into place. He had in fact confessed on tape. “Shit,” she said, and took a breath. “So, what do we do?”
“Charlie! Can you bring in those groceries, please?” Barb called, startling them both. “I need to get started on the peach cobbler so that it has time to bake and cool for dessert!”
Chuck blinked a few times as if he was trying to gather himself. Olivia could tell he was flailing.
She held out a hand to calm him without touching him. “Okay, let’s take the easy one. We’ll tell them we broke up.”
He flinched. “I promise you, that is not the easy one, Liv.”