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“Work for you?” My mom questions, staring Theo down.
Theo looks smug as ever as he prepares to tell her all about his big eco-friendly car plans, but he freezes suddenly and cuts his eyes over to Bridgett. “Where did you say you were from…uh…what was your name?”
“Bridgett,” she replies with an innocent smile. “Bridgett Henderson. We’re from California actually.”
“Uh-huh,” Theo straightens, rolling his tongue across his teeth. “Henderson. That wouldn’t be any relation to…Liam Henderson?”
“He’s my uncle,” she nods, studying my reaction as if she’s asking for my permission to admit it.
A heavy tension falls over the table. Everyone looks deep in thought except Brendan who looks like he’s a million miles away. Most likely just trying to survive another dinner with my mom’s ex until he can finally relax in front of the game with a beer. My mom looks puzzled, probably trying to figure out what kind of new thing Theo is starting now and why he’d try to rope Emmett into it.
Bridgett looks apologetic, like she’s worried she has said something wrong. Or that she’s wrong simply for being related to the Henderson’s at all. Theo keeps his mouth shut, eyeing her every so often like she’s a traitor over enemy lines.
And Emmett is silently stewing, still stabbing away at his food, and is probably getting more salt in his wounds from this dinner than anyone. He hates the Henderson’s for stealing everything from him, yet he’s sitting right next to one of them, even if she’s only related by blood. With her family’s ownership of Jameson Automobiles and Theo’s big plans to start his own thing, I can see how he’d feel like the only one without a piece of the pie. Even though it was his birthright.
“Well, this has been pleasant as always,” I scoff under my breath.
“What was that dear?” my mom asks with a naïve sweetness.
I shake my head and practically hold my breath, impatiently waiting for this whole thing to finally be over.
“Spring will be here soon,” Brendan announces randomly in his deep, gruff voice. “I’m already seeing termites all over the poles around town. We’ve had to treat everything. They’ll be bad this year. Which reminds me, honey. We need to go ahead and treat the house too.”
Theo darts his eyes between them, looking oddly jealous. “That’s right, Brendan. You’re an electrician, aren’t you?”
“Mm-hmm,” he grunts, not looking up from his plate.
“Maybe you could teach Emmett your line of work,” he suggests snidely. “He’ll need something to do to take care of our Ophelia. Since she won’t take any help from me.”
There’s a loud clanking noise, and it takes me a second to realize it’s my own fork crashing to my plate. “I’m driving the car you gave me and using the phone. Isn’t that enough?” I bark, throwing my napkin over what’s left of my food. My appetite is completely gone now. “And Emmett doesn’t have to take care of me. I’m not his responsibility.” I pull my chair out from the table and turn to Bridgett. “Hey, do you want to see my room while you’re here?”
“Ophelia!” my mom scolds. “She’s not even done eating yet. Let the poor girl finish.”
“No, it’s okay!” Bridgett says quickly. “I’m full. Thank you, though. It was delicious.” She pushes out of her chair and jumps up to follow me.
“You coming?” I ask Emmett.
“I’ll be up in a little bit,” he answers, looking stiff and rigid.
I shrug and lead Bridgett to the stairs. It feels weird to abandon Emmett down there, but I can’t stand sitting across Theo for another second.
“Phew, and I thought my family’s dinners were tense,” Bridgett exclaims when we’re finally in the privacy of my room.
“I’m so sorry,” my cheeks blush. “You probably would have been better off going to Liam’s, huh? If I had known Theo would be here…”
“No, it’s okay,” she assures me. “I understand. Trust me. You don’t have to apologize for the crazy shit your family does.” She looks around my somewhat messy room. “Hey, what’s that?” she asks suddenly, reaching toward the old journal on my bed. “Do you keep a diary?”
I panic and snatch the book up, quickly throwing it into my dresser. When I turn back around, Bridgett is frozen with a stunned sort of look.
“If I tell you what that is, you have to promise not to tell anyone,” I sigh, figuring I’ve told her all my other secrets just about. Why stop now? She nods and agrees. “It’s one of Marissa Jameson’s old diaries. They gave it to Emmett for some reason, but he didn’t want it. So…I took it. But he doesn’t know,” my voice drops to a whisper, realizing he could walk in at any time.
“Whoa, I bet that’s quite a read,” she gapes. “Marissa scares me.”
“She always did me too,” I agree as we both sit on the edge of the bed. “But…reading that diary…I don’t know. It’s from when she was about our age. And she doesn’t seem so bad. It’s almost scarier to think she used to be just a normal girl. But then Thomas and the life of the Elites…something about it must have broken her along the way.”
She gets a distant look in her eye as if she understands all too well. We go back to talk about normal things, and by the time Emmett joins us it actually seems perfect that she’s here. Of course, I would’ve preferred my mom not telling Theo about SoCal or him not announcing it at the dinner table. But if all that had to happen, Bridgett turned out to be the perfect buffer. I can tell he is itching to talk about it, but after a while, he has to offer to drive Bridgett home instead. I just stay hidden in my room, hoping Theo left in peace without doing any more damage.
15
