“Maeve Bennett.”
She turned, and imaginary confusion lit up her eyes. “Oh, Harper. You look so beautiful. Why are you all dressed up?”
“You know perfectly well why. The regatta party,” I said, crossing my arms, willing my voice not to falter. For the tears not to come. Because the night was ruined. There would be no party. No dancing with Orion. No standing up for us, or for myself. I couldn’t leave Dash alone with her. Not now. But behind me, the lights from Hensley’s car were still illuminating our front windows, his car still idling in our driveway.
“What is happening right now?” I asked.
“Oh, honey.” Mom’s shoulders slumped. “I’m so sorry. I completely forgot about your party. Alan’s taking me to Newport for five days. Aspur-of-the-moment thing.”
My hands on my arms dug into my bare flesh so hard they’d leave bruises later.
“For five days,” I said, and shock cleaned me out. Turned me hollow and cold. My voice sounded empty and dead. “You’re leaving in the middle of the week for five days. Just like that.”
“I know. I didn’t plan for this, and it’s not ideal—”
“Not ideal,” I repeated. This couldn’t be real. There was no possible way this was real…
“Don’t give me a hard time,” Mom said, heading upstairs, weaving slightly. “I have to. He’s my boss. What am I going to do? Say no?”
“Yes!”
I screamed the word. It broke through the shock and erupted out of me on a tide of molten rage. A fury so white hot, it lit me up from the inside, leaving my skin and eyes burning, my throat dry and airless.
Dash flinched. “Harper?”
“In a second, buddy,” I managed, teeth clenched to keep from screaming again.
I followed Mom upstairs, to our shared bathroom, where she began stuffing toiletries in a bag from under the sink.
“You can’t do this,” I seethed. “You can’t just leave us for five fucking days. And you’re drunk. I can’t believe you’d do this to us. To Dash.”
“Harper, I can’t talk about this right now. I’ll be back on Sunday. We’ll talk then.”
She pushed past me, back down the stairs. I followed on her tail, the fury lighting me up from the inside until I thought I’d combust.
“No, we’ll talk now. You can’t go. Youcannot.”
“Harper?” Dash called from the couch. He was standing up, shifting from foot to foot.
“Not now, Dash.”
“But…”
I reached for Mom’s arm as she pulled clothes from the hall closet that served as her closet and stuffed them in a rolling suitcase.
“No.You cannot do this to us. You cannot.I will not let you.”
She tore out of my grip. “I’ll get fired, Harper. Is that what you want?”
“Yes!” I screamed. “Get the fuck away from that cheating asshole and find another job. You think that’s the only one out there? Just what the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Harper…?”
“Not now, Dash!”
And then he started to cry.
“If you walk out this door, I will never forgive you for this,” I ground out, my voice quivering. My entire body shaking. “Never. Do you hear me?I will never fucking forgive you.”
