My announcement is followed by a few seconds of drawn-out silence. Everyone looks between Natalia and me, waiting for one of us to break the tension.
Natalia does the honors. “I should have known. I should have known this dinner came with a catch.” She looks around the table as though she holds everyone around it equally responsible for the ambush. “Who else voted for this plan? You, Kat?”
Kat rises out of her chair, shaking her head. “No, Nat. I had no idea—”
“But you agree with him, don’t you?”
“You’re supposed to be my friend!”
“I am!” Katya wails. “We all are. We love you, Nat, and we can all see that you’re struggling. Right, Mila?”
Mila shrinks down in her seat like she might be able to escape notice, but she sighs when everyone turns to look at her. “Kat’s right: we do love y
