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We’re both smiling and grinning in his car, relaxed against the lingering warmth of the heated seats. My fingers loosely grip my phone in my lap, and I see Emmett close his eyes and tip his head back with softened features. It’s something I see him do a lot now, as if he is breathing in as much of this peaceful time as he can before it slips away again.
Emmett smiles at me from the driver’s seat before he blows into his cold, red hands and rubs them together. The car smells like burnt lint as he turns up the heat, which is strangely comforting. He hasn’t talked to his family since the night they officially cast him out, and Malcolm and Bernadette have yet to return to school. But he seems happier this way. More at peace. I don’t think he could have ever turned his back on his family. Loyalty to them above all else was too ingrained in him for that. But when they disowned him, he was freed and it gave him permission to wash his hands of it all and walk away. I know there is an emptiness left in him, but not for the family he had. It’s a gaping hole for the family he should have had. The one he deserves—much like how I feel about my own father.
As we drive off, my phone buzzes in my bag. “It’s my mom,” I tell him. “She’s probably wondering if you’re coming over for dinner.”
“Hell yeah, I am,” he shoots back without hesitation. “I love your mom’s cooking. I’ll come any time she asks.”
Emmett and I have decided not to tell them everything for now. We know we need to, but we decided we needed time to process it all ourselves first. Plus, we don’t want anything else to change right now. We want to get through the holidays with a sense of calm, and plan to catch them up to speed in the new year.
“Mom?” I answer, still shivering as the car heats up.
“Ophelia,” she huffs back, sounding worried. “Are you on your way home?”
“Yeah, Emmett’s driving me,” I tell her. “Everything okay?”
“I need to talk to you,” she says sternly.
“Okay, sure,” I answer pensively, afraid of what this could be about. “What about? Care to give me a hint?”
“It’s your father,” she replies grimly, stopping my heart cold. “He called me today. I haven’t talked to him since I left him when you were just a baby.”
“Uh-huh,” I stammer, unable to breathe. “What did he want?”
“Just come home,” she says again. “I need to talk to you before he gets here.”
“Gets there?” I demand. “What do you mean ‘gets there’?”
“He’s joining us for dinner,” she says plainly, but with an obvious tinge of anxiety.
I hang up and stare straight ahead, wishing the afternoon hadn’t taken this unexpected turn. I want to go back to how I felt just minutes ago, when everything was going well for once. I don’t want my dad in any part of my life, even the dark, distant part my mom doesn’t know about. I can’t stand the thought of those two worlds merging. My mother, who I love. and the man who beat and left her. I hate him enough as it is. I can’t bear to see him with her and let the rest of it slide so easily.
“What was that all about?” Emmett asks.
“My father,” I reply breathlessly. “It seems he’s coming over for dinner tonight.”
My blood boils. I grew up hearing my mom refer to him as the scum of the earth, and now he is coming over for dinner. He was completely absent for most of my life, and then became responsible for the torment I had to endure at the hands of the Elites.
“I forgot to tell you,” I remember suddenly. “I got pulled over. The night Lily got arrested. The cops were asking me about him again.”
“Did you tell them anything?” He looks at me questioningly.
“No,” I reply. “I didn’t know what to say. I wish you had never made that deal with him Emmett. Now I feel like he’s never going to go away.”
His face contorts. “You know what would have happened if I hadn’t made that deal. One
of our fathers would have killed you, and my dad would still be reigning over everything.”
“I know you were desperate to get rid of him.” I sigh in acceptance. “But it’s like making a deal with the devil. I’m not convinced my father would have been any better than yours…if he had been around.”
“Well, it sounds like you’re about to find out,” he says ominously.
I remember my father defending his decision to kidnap me if Emmett hadn’t stepped in. He claimed he just needed to ‘remove me from the game.’ Like I was just some kind of gambling chip in his mind, one that was swinging the odds out of his favor. At the time, I didn’t know if I was better off with Emmett or my dad. Now it seems I’m getting both, whether I like it or not.
We’ve come so far since then. When everything about Emmett and my dad came out, I couldn’t imagine ever trusting Emmett again after everything he had put me through. I certainly never thought we’d be where we are today. But I can’t help but feel like the lingering presence of my father threatens what we have. I don’t know how, but I know it’s not good.
“Do you think he still keeps tabs on my mom and me?” I ask Emmett nervously. “You remember what he said after everything happened with your father. About my mother belonging to him before anybody else. You don’t think he’s...trying to get her back or something…He wouldn’t, right? Not with Brendan around.”
“Despite what you think…your dad and I aren’t buddies, you know,” he reminds me. “My guesses about this whole thing are as good as yours.”
