“Oh, Frank. I love you dearly, but you are blind when it comes to your daughter.” Essie shook her head. “Sophie already hates—” She held up her hands. “Okay, maybehatesis too strong of a word. But she definitely resents me very deeply.”
“I know she didn’t come to the wedding, but that’s just because she had another trip planned already.”
Essie tipped her head to the side. “You don’t think our wedding was more important than her girls trip to wherever they went to dance and drink?”
Frank stared at his plate. “I know,” he said softly. “She’s always been willful. Stacia indulged her. Too much.” He looked up again. “But you don’t really think she hates you, do you?”
“I think— No, Iknowshe resents me.” It was time to come clean and while the thought made Essie nervous, it had to be done. Maybe she should have mentioned there was peach ice cream for dessert. It was one of Frank’s favorites. “She thinks I’m out to spend all your money and ruin her hopes for her inheritance.”
Frank’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “You know that for a fact?”
“I do.”
“How?”
She took a breath. “Like I said, my daughter’s on TikTok. She’s seen some of Sophie’s posts and she’s made me aware of what’s being said.”
“Which is?”
He was angry. Not at her, she understood that, but she didn’t want to get this wrong, either. “Maybe we should just look her up and see for ourselves. I don’t want to misquote her.”
“All right, do that.” He ate the last bite of his salad, then put his empty bowl on top of his plate and took them and his silverware to the kitchen.
While he was putting his things into the dishwasher, she found Sophie’s channel, then made sure her sound was turned up. She put her phone where his plate had been and went back to finishing her dinner.
He sat. “What do I do?”
“Just tap the first rectangle there and you can watch her pinned video or you can tap on any one of them. When it’s done, just swipe to see the next one. You can also tap on the screen to pause a video.” Done with her meal, she took her dishes to the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher as well.
Sophie’s voice filled the dining nook.
Essie got the ice cream out and glanced over. Frank was staring at the screen, his jaw set in a way that indicated he wasn’t happy.
Sophie was talking about how her father was loaded and how she never wanted for anything, except a man worthy of her. That was a new video. Essie turned around quickly to hide her surprised expression. Sophie was getting bolder. Maybe her followers were responding to that kind of thing, making her think it was time to go harder, as the kids said.
Sophie’s voice stopped.
“I don’t like this atall,” Frank growled.
“Liliana warned me it wasn’t nice.” Essie turned, ice cream scoop in her hand.
“I can see how she’s dressed in these videos.” Frank shook his head at the screen. “I know she’s a grown woman and she can wear what she likes, but it’s embarrassing. She looks like…like…”
“She doesn’t value herself?” Essie gently offered.
“Yes.” Sparks snapped in Frank’s eyes. “And no good man is going to value her either, looking like that.” He tapped the screen and Sophie’s voice filled the room again.
“So anyway, this is my look today. What do you think?” That was followed by a girlish giggle. Essie leaned in. Sophie was twirling in a black gingham bra top and a super short pleated black leather skirt that started at her hip bones and didn’t go much further. “Not a lookyou-know-whocould pull off, am I right? Laters.”
“Unacceptable,” Frank snarled as he looked up. “Do you know who you-know-who is?”
Essie tapped a finger to her chest. “Pretty sure that’s me.”
Frank paled. “That is not okay.” He looked at the screen. “How do I find this on my phone?”
“You need to download the TikTok app.”
“Help me. I need to see the rest of these. I need a complete idea of what’s going on.”
