Her sudden severity caught me off guard. “Lydia. Tell me why it’s so important.”
“Why? So you can throw it back in my face?”
My jaw dropped. “When have I ever?—”
“Oh,please! You’ll just use it to remind yourself how much better you are than me. That I’m beneath you, and that it’s obviously true, because everyone likesyoumore. The most perfect girl at Alderton-Du Ponte.” Her features twisted as her voice lowered. “With a black hole in your chest where your heart should be.”
Her words hit me hard, almost like she’d shoved me with them. The hatred in her eyes so potent that I didn’t know what else to do but hold still. No one had ever looked at me that way before. Not even Beck.
“It’ll swallow you whole one day,” she went on, and snatched the horror pie out of my hands. “I’m waiting for it—no. I’mcounting on it.”
With one last death glare, Lydia turned on her heel, her blonde hair flying out as she started down the porch steps. I remained frozen, watching as she stomped toward her car parked on the curb. Her words were ugly, and the smell of the burnt pie still clogged my nose.
“What was that about?”
I turned around to find Dad on the bottom stair in the house, frowning in the foyer. He was in a pair of dark sweatpants and a loose shirt, with his hair combed. The most presentable he’d been in weeks.
And staring at me with a serious expression on his face. Had he overheard any of that? “Lydia,” I answered hastily. “She was… stopping by to say hi.”
Dad watched me wordlessly.
I cleared my throat. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Just to the kitchen.” He came off the last step, seeming to give up on questioning. “I’ve been craving French toast.”
I trailed after him. “Want me to help?”
He just shook his head.
When we walked by the dining room, I saw Jamie sitting at the table. His eyes were lifted from his notebook. They narrowed on me.Leave it alone, Nell.
I ignored him. “Jamie’s and my birthday is this next Saturday,” I told Dad, following his silent footsteps into the kitchen. “Mom rented out the ballroom at ADP for a little graduation and eighteenth present?—”
“I know. She and I talked about it.” Dad went to the fridge, pulling out eggs. He eyed their expiration date. “Your mother said you had plans today?”
I’d wanted to ask him if he was planning on coming—but then again, I wasn’t sure I’d want to hear his answer. “With the Pembletons. I’m excited to meet Dr. Pembleton. I’m excited to ask him if he remembers anything about when you two went to school together.”
The fridge door must’ve slipped, because it shut hard. The condiments rattled inside. “Nellie. You’re not stringing along that Pembleton boy to get to Arthur.”
It wasn’t a question, but I still sucked in a breath. “O-Of course not! Gosh, no. It’s a long story, but I knew Carter before?—”
“Since I won’t be your mentor, you’re finding someone else?”
“Dad. Shouldn’t youwantto be my mentor? I would’ve thought?—”
The faint jingle of Dad’s ringtone sounded then, interrupting me. He fished it from his sweatpants pocket, and I watched as his face sparked as he glanced at the screen. When he pressed it to his ear, I realized why. “Destelle,” he greeted, the warmest tone I’d heard from him in months. “Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise?”
And just like that, my mood took a nose dive.
“How’s it going in your neck of the woods?” Dad cradled his phone between his chin and ear as he took the eggs over to the counter. “Oh, really? Tell him I said hi.”
I fantasized shoving forward and yanking the phone out of his hand, hanging up on my sister, and taking his attention back for myself. The smile that’d touched his mouth when he saw my sister’s name should’ve been for me, who stood right in front of him. Not her.
My hands curled into tight fists.
I stomped toward the dining room, slumping into a chair across from Jamie. “He sounds like a completely different person.”
“Try not to be upset about it,” Jamie replied lightly, turning back to his notebook. “It’s a good thing he’s feeling better.”
