Relative Happiness by Lesley Crewe

what was going on. She was a damn fine actor, if nothing else. Lexie saw her sister relax a little. It was hard on her. Her sisters knew she was gay, but no one said it out loud at home. One of these days, Kate would come out with it and actually tell her mother. But that was her business.
    Dad entered the living room and was his usual charming self. She introduced him to Adrian.
    â€œNice to meet you, Adrian.”
    Adrian shook his hand. “Sir.”
    â€œLexie tells me you’re from Johannesburg?”
    â€œYes, sir. That’s right. Although I haven’t lived there in a long time.”
    â€œAdrian worked in refugee camps in Tanzania,” she said, as if she’d done it herself.
    Her father was impressed. She could tell.
    â€œThat had to be quite an experience.”
    Lexie looked back at Adrian and suddenly knew she should have kept her mouth shut. It was none of her business to blab what he did. Maybe he didn’t want anyone to know.
    â€œWhat was your area of expertise?”
    â€œI was hired to help with translations. I know a little Swahili and Kirundi.”
    â€œFascinating. I imagine a person gets burnt out very quickly in a situation like that,” Dad said. “It can’t be easy trying to help so many people, under such conditions.”
    Adrian tensed. Lexie could see he didn’t want to talk about it any more.
    He finally said, “Yes.”
    â€œHow long were you there?”
    â€œToo long.” He turned to her. “I couldn’t get another club soda, could I?”
    â€œOf course.” She went to get it and heard him say, “Excuse me, sir.” He came with her, as if to escape her father’s questions. She could have kicked herself. Only a few days before, a television commercial about sponsoring children in Africa had come on. She told Adrian she had a foster child in India. “She sends me drawings, bless her heart.” He walked out of the room and went upstairs without a word. She remembered thinking he must have had a terrible time at that camp.
    And then she goes and brings it up again. She vowed to keep her mouth shut from now on.
    Gabby and Richard were in a rented Lexus. He’d flown in from Chicago and met Gabby at the Halifax airport, and they’d driven up to Cape Breton the night before. Richard insisted he wanted a night with her first, before the family get-together. He managed to keep her in bed for most of the day too and now they were late. She checked her watch every five minutes.
    Richard, who was talking into his cell phone, watched her check her watch yet again.
    â€œWhy are you so nervous?”
    â€œYou don’t know my mother. She’ll have gone all out for this occasion and I don’t want to keep her waiting.”
    Richard tsked and went back to his conversation. Gabby folded her arms and looked out the car window. When Richard finally said goodbye to his client, he snapped the phone shut and threw it in the glove compartment. His hand lingered on her silk stockings. He stroked her thigh with his finger.
    â€œHow long do we have to stay?”
    â€œIt’s a dinner party.”
    â€œI want it to be over soon.”
    â€œRichard…”
    â€œI want you back in that hotel room. Wear the red corset and those stilettos. Pretend like you missed me.”
    Gabby sighed.
    It became a cocktail party. Everyone stood and chatted. Beth and her husband Rory enjoyed Adrian’s company. “I might have been mistaken about him,” she told Lexie as she passed around the canapés. “The girls love his stories about elephants and tigers.”
    The doorbell sounded once more. Michaela rushed to the door first. She peeked through the side window. “Mommy! It’s Auntie Gabby and Prince Eric!”
    Lexie knew right away what she meant. She hadn’t watched The Little Mermaid with her four thousand times for nothing.
    Gabby reached for her godchild the minute she