Simmer Down

that my lunatic sister has unearthed my ex, Sean, and now we are all squashed together in this fricking art gallery celebrating the holidays together!” I was, perhaps, going to have some sort of anxiety attack.
    “Well, let’s get a look at the ex then, shall we?” Josh teased, standing on his toes to get a good view.
    “Argh! This is a nightmare. I better go say hello and get this over with. I’ll be right back.” I walked toward Sean and my family and tried to think of polite things to say.
    Sean had been a great boyfriend, but he just wasn’t someone I’d wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Heather, on the other hand, thought Sean and I should’ve run off into a picturesque sunset and had forty babies together. And she knew damn well that when I’d broken up with Sean I’d been left with monster-sized guilt over dumping an altogether nice guy.
    To top it off, Sean didn’t look particularly good tonight. His whole body had thinned out. Not that he’d been heavy when we were dating, but now he looked sort of gaunt and pitiful. And he’d started wearing glasses. Look what I’d done to him! Maybe I’d upset him so badly that he’d barely eaten in the past few years? And I’d caused his eyesight to fail? I had zero interest in facing someone whose heart I’d crushed, but I forced an enthusiastic smile.
    “Sean! What a surprise! It’s great to see you,” I lied. I gave him a brief hug and gave my sister the finger behind his back.
    “God, Chloe. It’s been a long time,” Sean said. “I hope you don’t mind I’m here. Heather called me and invited me to come out with everybody tonight. I thought it’d be good to see you again.”
    “No, of course I don’t mind.” But I did mind.
    I hugged my brother-in-law, Ben, who whispered in my ear, “I cannot begin to apologize enough for this. I swear I had nothing to do with it.” I loved Ben. He was always clean-cut and well-groomed, but tonight he looked especially put together. I could tell he’d recently had his monthly haircut, and his short, neat style showed off his high forehead and warm, green eyes.
    “Don’t worry. I know it was all Heather,” I tried to reassure him, although I couldn’t help wondering whether the whole family was engaged in some horrible reunite-Chloe-with-Sean conspiracy. “Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad.” I turned to my parents. My mother was wearing a tremendously awful capelike thing on which she had affixed patchwork squares. Her latest craft obsession?
    “Hi, sweetie.” Mom gave me a hug. I tried to avoid chafing my cheek on her cape. “Where’s the food?” she asked.
    “Yes, where’s the food?” Dad chimed in, craning his head over the crowd. “Oh, yeah. Nice to see you, too, kiddo,” he teased. But at least he gave me a sympathetic look that I took as a reference to the Sean problem. I was pleased to note that my father had not only run a comb through his graying hair but had traded in his usual jeans and flannel shirt for a pair of corduroys with coordinating jacket and dress shirt.
    “Down this way.” I gestured to the back of the gallery. “Mom and Dad, come with me. I have to get back to the Organization’s booth, anyhow. Heather, why don’t you stay here and get something to drink, okay? I’ll see you guys in a little bit.” I glared at her. I wanted to keep Sean away from Josh for the moment.
    “What has your idiot daughter done this time?” I avoided screaming at my parents as we moved toward Josh. “Sean said Heather called him? She is a piece of work.”
    “I don’t even know what to tell you, Chloe. I cannot imagine what she was thinking,” Mom shook her head. “Oh, there’s Josh!”
    “Jack and Bethany! You made it,” Josh said to my parents. My parents greeted Josh, whom they adored, and immediately asked him for a full description of the food he had prepared. I felt a little better realizing that my parents were complete fans of Josh. I left them hovering over their plates and returned to Naomi.
    “There you are!” she said. “We had a rush of interested people here. This is such great publicity for us!”
    “Really? That’s good news.” Naomi was so happy that I couldn’t help smiling at her. Maybe she had relaxed enough to stop accosting everyone who stepped too close to our table.
    Our piles of information had been significantly reduced, so I reached under the table and pulled out more brochures, fact sheets, and flyers from a box and restocked our table.