Chapter 274 60

• Chapter 60
• Dinner is predictably awful. Xavier sets the pizza box on the table with three plates and opens a beer. It doesn’t escape my notice that he doesn’t offer Melanie one.
• We sit in our usual spots: Xavier and I across from each other, and Melanie at the head, and the mood around the table is disjointed and weird. There’s a heavy energy between Xavier and I. We’re stilted and silent. But Melanie is completely indifferent. She’s positively incandescent as she talks about how great it is for the three of us to be back together again, and how New Mexico was just “faaabulous!”