CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN –DELORES

What had initially promised to be a relatively mild, if unorthodox, experience meeting one of Claire's more...uniquely passionate acquaintances had devolved into a hostage situation of escalating awkwardness and passive-aggressive jockeying between her and Delores. Delores, for her tenacious part, had seized every available opportunity to loudly laud her only son's accomplishments while pointedly critiquing Jasmine over increasingly insignificant transgressions. By the final agonizing course, Jasmine had very nearly abandoned her efforts at cordiality altogether, glaring daggers at the haughty matron each time she not-so-subtly directed a leading anecdote about Martin's childhood towards embarrassing him. "Oh, you simply must regale our guest with that delightful little tale about your struggles with permanent bedwetting until well into middle school!" Delores had twittered with saccharine glee at one point, patting her son's reddening cheek with a doting fondness that made Jasmin