Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55667 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55667 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
“Did you touch Violet?” Dad grits from between clenched teeth.
I go with honesty. “I don’t know.” I need to talk to Violet. I don’t think I would have done anything inappropriate, because I know how much my dad likes Skye. And I really like Skye, too. It’s been nice having her around. She’s the cool mom everyone loves because she says the things other moms won’t. And I sincerely hope my stupidity hasn’t fucked this all up for me and my dad.
“You don’t know?” We both look at my hand.
He releases my wrist and takes a step back. His hands are shaking. His whole body is. And his eyes are still bugging. “How can you not know?”
I rub my nose.
Relief hits me like an anvil. My right hand smells like soap. “I’m pretty sure nothing happened.”
“Pretty sure?”
The fingers don’t lie. But it doesn’t mean nothing, nothing happened. Just nothing below the waist. Jesus, I really hope nothing, nothing happened or I’m going to be grounded until I die.
I don’t have a chance to answer because there’s a soft knock on my bedroom door.
CHAPTER TWENTY
I CANNOT END MY ONLY SON
Sidney
I think my head is going to explode. I have never been as angry at Miller as I am now. Not when he backed his friend’s car into my truck and did three grand in damage to my tailgate two days after he got his driver’s permit. Not when I found out he’d been using my truck to make out with his girlfriend after hockey practice, not even when he and Randy brought girl’s home when I was on a date.
Or the time when he and Randy snuck out of the hotel during an away game and tried to go to a bar, but ended up getting picked up by the cops. Even if I put together every single one of those instances, and rolled all my anger into one giant ball, it wouldn’t compare to the rage I’m rocking.
I point to my son. “Put some clothes on.”
“Now?”
“Yes. Now.”
He keeps the pillow in front of his junk and rushes over to his dresser. He grabs whatever is in the top drawer and hustles his bare ass into the bathroom. I wait until that door closes before I open the one behind me.
Skye is standing on the other side, looking beautiful and stressed. She glances to the right, toward the stairs. “I sent Violet to wait in the car. I’m going to take her home and get her side of this story. I feel like she’s trying not to throw Miller under the bus. She’s a horrible liar, though, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get to the bottom of things.”
“Miller’s changing. I’ll talk to him and we can compare notes in a couple of hours?”
“That sounds reasonable.” She wrings her hands.
“I’m so sorry, Skye.” My stomach feels like it’s trying to turn itself inside out.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. I should have sent Violet to her grandparents for the weekend.” She taps her lips with her fingers. I notice her engagement ring is no longer decorating the important one. “Let’s put telling the kids about the other thing on hold until we get to the bottom of this.”
I’m trying not to panic. Or read into that any more than necessary. It makes sense to deal with this situation before we tell them we’re engaged. My big worry is that Miller has a thing for nerdy types. He’s proven that by getting fresh with his tutors this year. I can overlook him making out with whoever is helping him with his English essays. But if my son and Skye’s daughter hooked up this weekend, it will make moving forward with this relationship difficult. Maybe impossible.
She pats me on the chest, her smile reflecting the same unease churning in my gut. “We’ll get this figured out. I’ll call you later.”
I notice she doesn’t placate me with bullshit like everything is going to be okay. Because it might not be. I feel sick. I nod instead of answering with words.
I should make an appointment with my therapist after this, regardless of the outcome. Because as Skye and I have a silent conversation in which all our fears play out on our faces, I realize that I’m beyond in love with her. I’ve already planned out my future and she’s in every single fictional fantasy. I want to get old with her, get wrinkly and soft, spoil grandkids, and enjoy retirement with her. But all that seems to hang in the balance of whatever did or didn’t happen while we were away this weekend.
She breaks eye contact first and disappears down the stairs.
The bathroom door opens. Miller looks like he’s just as at risk of vomiting as I am.
I cross my arms. “You’re grounded forever.”
He nods once. His jaw works, like he’s trying not to cry. He wrings his hands, eyes wide and darting around. “Is Violet still here? Maybe I need to talk to her.”