“Can you not do this for one dinner?”
The whole table froze.
My sister blinked at Dad like she genuinely didn’t understand the question.
“What?”
He didn’t raise his voice. Honestly that made it worse.
He just sat there looking tired.
“Every time somebody else has a moment,” he said, “you suddenly have news.”
A few relatives immediately looked down at their drinks because everybody knew exactly what he meant.
My sister laughed awkwardly. “I was just sharing something exciting.”
“No,” my dad said. “You were waiting for attention to land somewhere else too long.”
Dead silence.
Even my mom stopped pretending to smile through it.
My sister crossed her arms fast. “Wow. Okay.”
Dad nodded toward me. “Your sister’s halfway through thanking people for showing up to HER birthday and somehow we’re already talking about your interviews.”
That hit.
Because it was true.
You could actually see the moment everybody realized the conversation had already shifted toward her without noticing.
Then my aunt quietly muttered, “She does kind of do that…”
My sister’s face changed immediately. “Are you serious right now?”
Dad leaned back in his chair. “You know what the worst part is? You always act shocked afterward like nobody notices the pattern.”
Nobody moved.
Then my husband reached over and slid the birthday cake back toward me from the middle of the table where it had been abandoned during her announcement.
Small thing.
But it honestly made my throat tighten.
My sister grabbed her wine glass hard enough to splash it a little. “Fine. Sorry for ruining everybody’s night.”
Dad shrugged slightly. “Nobody said you ruined it.”
Then after a second he added,
“But you were definitely trying to redirect it.”