𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 • Neil Perry

Chapter 17

TORMENTED. All night and all morning, Milly was tormented by the version of events that played out before her very eyes on the big screen.

Neil promised that this all starts and ends with her and him. And whilst she wanted that to be enough to ease her brain, it incontrovertibly wasn't. It was a miracle she got in any sleep at all.

So when she made it to the kitchen table, she feigned pleasantries, just not in the way she once had before. She wasn't trying to mould herself into this picture perfect family; she couldn't mould herself into something she felt apart of. She was trying to savour their anxiety.

Because after weeks of pretending, one day the pretending stopped and she began to care.

She began to grow fond of their habits too. Between Mr Meeks' morning paper and Mrs Meeks' prancing around the kitchen with a frying pan, dishing out eggs and bacon, how couldn't she? Instead of routine growing tedious, it grew on her.

"Happy play day!" Mrs Meeks chirped. She was wearing a green dress today with long sleeves and an off the shoulder cut.

"Wow," Milly slipped into her chair. Between her dark blue turtleneck and charcoal skirt, she didn't feel uncomfortable at all. "Somebody woke up on the right side of the bed this morning."

"And made Shakespeare toast," Mr Meeks says, his eyes actually looking up from his paper.

"Shakespeare toast? What is that?"

"See for yourself." Mrs Meeks placed the toast plate in the vacant space dead centre on the table, and surely enough she was looking at toast cut into the shape of Shakespeare. Each piece was intricately detailed with a butter knife, most likely.

"Oh," Milly's eyebrows quirked. "Literal Shakespeare toast."

"Do you like it?" Mrs Meeks joined them at the table, taking her seat. "It took a few attempts to get it right, but I think the final cut is clean enough, if I do say so myself."

"It's wonderful. Thank you." Milly took a piece and placed it on her plate.

"I'm sure it'll look even better chewed and swallowed," Mr Meeks quips. "Eat."

Milly placed another piece of toast on her plate, then poured out orange juice into her glass. "So you're both going to the play this evening?" she asks.

"That's the plan," Mrs Meeks took a piece of cut up fruit from the the bowl she assorted on the table.

Milly glanced between them. "And there's no part of either of you that might want to do something different."

Mrs Meeks swallowed down the chopped apple, her eyebrows dipping. "You don't want us there?"

"Well, I don't want you guys to feel like you have to support me."

Mr Meeks narrowed his eyes at his daughter from behind his magazine, his suspicion growing.

She put the jug back down. "I'm not even the one on stage."

"But it'd be a lovely evening either way," Mrs Meeks insists.

"Okay, but... How about that dinner idea you had?" Milly suggests eagerly. "With the Perry's."

And the very moment the name dropped, Mr Meeks understood what was going on. He not only folded his newspaper and put it down, but he took off his glasses.

"I'm sure they'd love your Shakespeare toast."

"Ah. That's what this is about," Mr Meeks voices, pointing his glasses at his daughter. "It's always about that Neil of yours, isn't it?"