Perry could hear Ted’s intake of breath. He didn’t want to get legal, but if he had to he would. Ted Hastings could bet his legacy membership’s ass he would. Why were some parents so reluctant to investigate their children’s actions on social media? It was the worst kind of sticking your head in the sand.
“Listen, Perry. We’re sorry to hear about the hot water Emma got herself into. But this has nothing to do with us.”
“All of this happened atyourhouse.”
Ted Hastings’s tone changed sharply. “Where your daughter clearly made some bad decisions. Look, I suggest you let this blow over.”
Before Perry could say another word, the line cut out.
Perry dropped his phone on his desk. For more than fifteen years he’d known the Hastings. They’d attended the same clambakes at the Club every Fourth of July. The last night of every December they’d raised their glasses in the same neighborhood homes to toast the new year. He and Ted had watched their daughters learn to walk, to swim, to boat on the same lake. And yet all of it meant nothing.
Ted Hastings wanted no part of this. He wasn’t going to talk to his daughter to find out what happened. Nor would he be asking her to take down her posts on the internet. Over all those years he’d considered Ted a friend, a good neighbor, a fellow dad. What a fool he’d been.
That night, the conversation still fresh in his mind, Perry changed out of his work clothes and into a golf shirt and shorts. Amelia was just coming in the front door with the mail when he came downstairs, his Club binder under his arm. “You’re not still planning to go to that board meeting, are you?”
“If I stay home, people will only talk.”
Amelia dumped the mail on the table. “Who cares what people think, Perry. It’s just gossip.”
“All the more reason to show my face. We need to confront this head-on.” Why couldn’t Amelia understand? Hiding out in their big house was no way to teach Emma to resolve her issues.
“Emma is still in her room,” Amelia hissed. “She’s been upthere all day, while other kids are going to the beach. To camp. Doing everyday summer things. And yet she’s hiding out up there like some kind of shunned villager.”
Exactly his point, if Amelia would only listen. “Which is why I’m going. Let me face it, first. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner she can get back out there herself.”
“So she can suffer more? What we need is to get out of here. I was thinking we should take a trip. Maybe to Rhode Island? Get her away from it all.”
Perry shook his head. “To what end? It will all still be waiting for her when she gets back. Better to get it over with.”
Amelia looked stricken. “I disagree. You don’t know what it’s like to be a teenage girl. First the accident, and now this? She needs family time.”
“Speaking of family,” Perry said. “Don’t tell my parents about this latest…setback.”
“What? Why not? We aren’t perfect, Perry. They probably already know.”
Perry laughed, sadly. “Believe me—we’d know if they did. Besides, they all have their hands full with their own issues right now.”
“Which is why I think they should know. This is tearing us apart.”
Perry headed for the door. “It’s tearing all of us apart. Olivia and Luci, too.”
“Olivia and Luci? What do they have to do with this?” Something in Amelia’s voice cooled. Perry turned around.
“The accident, of course.”
Amelia studied him. “Perry, I don’t know what’s going through your mind, but why the concern for Olivia? You seem to be doing an awful lot for them.”
Perry was stunned.
“Olivia told me you went to visit them and brought her groceries the other night. She thanked me. And I had to pretend I knew what she was talking about.”
Perry paused in the doorway. “You said yourself, there’s something vulnerable about them.”
Amelia waited.
“What?”
“Did you bring her dog to the hospital?”
