Chapter 12

Jasmine jumped up and down, pointing at me. “That’s my uncle. He’s gay, and he just saved some peoplefrom the water!” she screamed proudly.

Beside her, Victoria growled, “Look! Pirates!”

Elden climbed onto his chair and said loudly, “Everyone! Please quiet down. This is a funeral, not a schoolroom.”

Jacob, meanwhile, backed slowly towards a door on the side of the room, his face flushed with either embarrassment, shame, fear, or all three. His face, of all of them, including my brother and sister-in-law’s angry faces, brought me to the reality of why I was even here. As Mike wisely grabbed my side, I started to cry and fainted. Or passed out; it could have been that

It was probably Elden who called the ambulance. When I came around, I was lying on the lobby floor, being fanned by Gwen and Jasmine, with all our retinue from the restaurant telling everyone how I’d jumped into the water and probably had inhaled some of it, and what a hero I was.