That evening, Kelsey sat down with Bill, Alice and Mr. Miller for dinner. At some point, Alice had laughed when Kelsey addressed him as “Mr. Miller.” “Oh, just call him Jack,” she said as she kissed her husband on the cheek. He grinned and nodded his assent – but his flashing eyes told her something else. She couldn’t think of him as anything other than Mr. Miller. Calling him “Jack” felt wrong, felt too familiar – like she was his equal or something.
Bill dug into the peppers, lauding Alice and Kelsey for the great job they did making his favorite meal. Mr. Miller didn’t say much, other than giving his son a few light hearted jabs about spending all afternoon in the bedroom playing poker. “C’mon Dad, I’m getting better. I made 50 bucks today!”
“What are you going to spend it on?” Mr. Miller said, taking a sip of dark red wine. He had poured a glass for both Bill and Kelsey as well. She placed the glass to her lips and swallowed a small portion. The alcohol tasted sweet and sour at the same time and burned on its way down her throat. She had never had any wine before this, and found she really liked the taste. By the time the dinner was over, she had three glasses of it. Mr. Miller seemed to have a sixth sense of it, and kept pouring more into her tall wineglass. Alice didn’t seem to mind at all, so Kelsey slowly lost her hesitation at drinking.