Dinner Table Secrets

My family has this rule: “No secrets at the dinner table.” Funny,

right? Because they’ve kept secrets from me my entire life. They never said

it out loud, but I always knew they hated me. The sighs when I walked into a room.

The eye rolls. The way they’d start talking about “family stuff” and go silent the moment I sat

down. So when Mom said, “Family dinner. Mandatory,” I knew something was coming.

I walked in and all their heads turned. My brother smirked. Dad cleared his

throat like he’d been rehearsing a speech. And Mom gave me that tight smile

she only uses when she’s about to say something cruel. She started with, “We think you need