She frowned and started to look angry, like she wanted to beat up whoever hurt me. But my big sister couldn’t fix it for me this time. I’d hurt myself. And my favorite person in the world.
Later, after everything was cleaned up and no one could possibly eat another bite, everyone had left, thanking my parents for hosting the party. They all yelled out that they’d see us later down at the levee.
The annual fireworks show was one of the highlights of Indigo Falls’ year. It was one of the biggest in Georgia, and kind of put us on the map. If you’d ever heard of our little town in other parts of Georgia, it was almost always for the fireworks show. That or our one huge sports star, Jon Hammond. He’d graduated high school years ago and was a big-time quarterback in the NFL. People knew Harrison, too, but it was more for what he’d done to Sadie than his former prowess on the football field.
Those were the only things we were famous for.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Mom said.
My family was sitting in lawn chairs and relaxing for a while before we walked the few blocks down to the levee.
“I don’t really have any,” I lied and tried to smile at her.
“Well, I do,” my dad said. “Where the hell is Natalie?”
Everyone turned to stare at me. It had been the question everyone had been asking me all day. I’d put everyone off, pretending I didn’t know.
“I… uh… don’t think she’s coming.” I rubbed the back of my neck, and I must’ve looked guilty as hell.
Mom, Dad, Sadie, and Alexis all said, “What did you do?” at the same time.
I hung my head. I might as well get this over with. I looked at my little sister, Wyn. I selfishly wanted her to still think of me as a hero for a while longer. “Could you find something else to do for a minute or two?”
She stood up, rolling her eyes. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you,” Wyn said, surprising me.
Once she was out of hearing range, I took a deep breath and plunged in. “Natalie and I… slept together,” I admitted, my face growing hot with embarrassment.
Dad frowned, but Mom, Sadie, and Alexis all started screaming and jumping around with excitement.
It took them a couple of minutes to realize I wasn’t celebrating with them. Or even smiling. They slowly settled down, eyes starting to look accusatory.
“Son. You’d better start talking.” Dad was looking… pissed.
“Yeah. Well, I sort of freaked out afterwards. I started thinking that it shouldn’t have happened. But I couldn’t talk to her about it because of her exams, and…”
“Just get to it,” Mom said. Her eyes already looked suspiciously glassy, like she knew I was about to break her heart.
“I slept with someone else last night. Nat came over after her exam.” I winced, not wanting to say the next part. “She walked in on me and the other woman.”
There was complete silence.
Alexis got up and walked away, like she couldn’t stand the sight of me.
Dad’s face was a dark plum color. He looked like he wanted to hit me. He stood up. “You know she’s like another daughter to me. Don’t you?”
“Yes,” I said quietly.
“And yet you treated her like garbage. Would you want someone to treat one of your sisters like that?” He was yelling, and Mom placed a calming hand on his shoulder.
I shook my head. Sadie had tears on her cheeks. “How could you do that after you saw what I was like after what Harrison did?”
I had no answer for her. I just looked at the ground. She hurried off, and I knew she was going to cry some more.
“I can’t stand to look at you right now,” Dad said, following Sadie inside.
Then it was just Mom and me. I felt relieved knowing that she’d be nicer to me.
I was wrong.
