Gladys nodded, satisfied.
“Exactly.” Then she looked directly into my eyes. “So I decided to do what you apparently wouldn’t.”
She reached for Eli’s foot again. “I took care of my son.”
Something inside me went completely quiet. I looked around the room. Nobody was defending me. One cousin stared at the television with exaggerated focus. An uncle suddenly became fascinated by the snack bowl. Even the relatives who looked uncomfortable stayed silent.
I wasn’t waiting for Gladys to stop anymore. I was waiting for my husband to choose me.
He didn’t.
Then my eyes landed on the bookshelf.
My phone.
The little red light was still glowing. The livestream was still running. Gladys kept talking.
She had no idea.
I did.
I could have ended it.
But I didn’t.
My heart pounded so hard I could hear it over the television. More than 50 relatives lived too far away to come, so they’d asked us to stream the watch party.
Now, they hadn’t just watched the game. They’d watched everything.
Gladys followed my gaze. Her smile faltered.
“What are you looking at?”
I didn’t answer.
Then her phone buzzed.
She ignored it.
A second later, Eli’s phone buzzed.
Then his sister’s.
Then his brother’s.
Within seconds, the room filled with vibrating phones.
The soccer match might as well have disappeared.
Everyone reached for their screens.
Eli frowned.
“What…”
His sentence died as he read the first message.
Across the room, his cousin Melissa covered her mouth.
An uncle muttered, “Oh, boy.”
Gladys finally picked up her phone, and the color drained from her face.
The first comment at the top of the livestream was from Denise, “Gladys, did you really just say that to Ivy?”
More comments followed so fast they pushed each other off the screen.
My phone chimed from the bookshelf.
Again.
And again.
Nobody even looked at the television anymore.
Gladys slowly turned toward me.
“You left the livestream on.”
Her voice had lost every ounce of confidence.
I folded my arms.
“You were the one who asked me to stream the gathering.”
“I meant the game.”
“I streamed the gathering.”
She looked around the room as though someone might rescue her.
Nobody did.
She took a step toward my phone.
“You need to end it.”
I reached the bookshelf first, picked up my phone, and looked at the flood of comments.
People who never commented suddenly found their voices.
