I’d been so focused on my dad’s feelings all this time, I hadn’t considered how Lea would react when she found out. We’d always been close, and I could sense her confusion, her disappointment.
I nodded. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to lie. I just didn’t know what else to do.”
Lea’s face crumpled, and something in my chest twisted. “I’m so sorry, Lea. And I’m sorry, Dad. I know—”
“How long?” Dad’s face was red. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him this angry. Not even when he’d fought with my mom over the classic Mustang he’d restored. She didn’t actually want it, but she knew he did. He’d loved that car.
“Does it really matter?” Jonathan asked, perhaps the only person at the table with any remaining composure.
“Well, I-I forbid it,” Dad sputtered.
“Dad,” I sighed. “I’m a grown woman, fully capable of making my own decisions.”
“He’s twice your age. He’sliterallyold enough to be your father. How could you be so fucking stupid? I thought you’d learned your lesson after what happened with the professor. And you—” He turned to Jonathan, his skin practically steaming with anger, ready to erupt. “How could you? She’s my daughter! You’re fucking my daughter.”
His words sliced through me like shards of glass.
“Ian,” Lea hissed, probably noticing that others around us had stopped to stare. Jonathan gripped my hand tighter.
Dad pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly reeling from this revelation. I tried to imagine how I’d feel if I were him. I tried to understand the betrayal and hurt he must be feeling. I tried to excuse the harsh words and the hurled accusations. But it was difficult.
“I can’t believe you’d do this,” he said to Jonathan. “I thought you were my friend. I thought I could trust you.”
“You can.”
“Oh yeah. I can trust you to ‘take care of’ my daughter. Is that why you agreed to bring her on as an intern? So you could sneak around behind my back?”
“Stop putting all the blame on Jonathan,” I said, finally finding my voice again. “I wanted this just as much as he did, if not more.”
Dad ignored me, banging his fist against the table as he glared at Jonathan. “You could have any woman you want. Why her?Why? She’s… No,” He shook his head, his face turning redder and redder. “She’s too young. She… We agreed.Youagreed that grad school was the best plan.”
“Agreed?” My attention snapped between them. What was I missing? And was that what Dad really thought of me? My mind couldn’t seem to keep up. It was like I was a wiener dog trying to run the Iditarod with the huskies.
“Why do I feel like you guys are talking in code?” Dad looked away, and I glanced to Jonathan for an answer. “Will one of you just tell me what’s going on?”
Jonathan sighed. “I wanted to offer you a permanent job. I was going to ask you to stay.”
“You…what?” It came out garbled, much like my thoughts. “Then why did you tell me it was time to move on? Why did you…”
“Because I asked him to. Because you were getting too attached to Jack. Who was apparentlyJonathan.” Dad spat out his name with an accompanying glare.
Lea narrowed her eyes at the two of them, and I felt a pit open up in my stomach and swallow every important relationship along with it.
“Wait.” I shook my head. “So, you both—what? Got together and thought… Hmm. Sumner’s so stupid, we need to decide this for her?”
Their matching guilty expressions were answer enough.
I stood, throwing my napkin down on the table. I was done. Done with this pissing contest. Done with their lies. Done with everyone else thinking they knew what was best for me. “I may be young, but I’m not the incapable little girl you both seem to think I am.”
Jonathan scrambled out of his chair. “Baby, wait.”
“No,” Dad cried out, a keening sound, and stood. “She’smybaby.Mydaughter.”
I glanced up, wiping away tears as I tried to ignore the fact that everyone in the restaurant was gawking at us. I’d trusted Jonathan, my dad, andthey’d lied to me. They were no better than Nico.
But I wouldn’t continue to be the naïve fool they believed me to be. I would no longer stay silent. I would assert myself. I would stand up for myself, even in the face of the two men who were supposed to love and protect me.
I held up my hand. “Dad, I know you’re upset, but you have no right to speak to me the way you did.”
