Page 172 of Always: A Legacy Novel

“She smiles. She’s happy.”

“With him, you mean. That’s what you’re not saying.”

“Trying not to because it upsets you.”

“Because it’s always something with him,” Dante muttered heavily. “And I am not interested in waiting to see what will come next.”

“Dante, she—”

“Smiles. Happy. I got it, Cat. I don’t understand why she stopped being those things to begin with, but that was probably him, too.”

“No, I don’t think so, if anything, his influence might have kept her from completely going off the deep end last year.”

“Really? Because what I saw was my daughter partying on weekends, and getting dropped off by him in the mornings. I saw her sneaking out and fucking off, and most of the time, he was usually involved by the end of the day. How many times did they break up and get back together over a period of a few months again? How many, Cat?”

Catrina hummed a disagreeing sound. “You’re assuming because of circumstance, but we don’t know for sure that he was the cause of all those things.”

“I have seen enough and I know enough to—”

Catherine walked into the kitchen, deciding she had enough of eavesdropping, and wanted the conversation to be done with. Her parents both made an effort to step away from one another and both grabbed different things to make it appear like they were doing something.

Smooth.

“Morning,” Catherine said, shifting her messenger bag on her shoulder.

“Morning,” her parents echoed.

“You hungry?” her father asked.

Catherine shrugged. “Sure, but I don’t have time to eat.”

“This good?”

Dante held up an apple.

“Sure, Daddy.”

Catherine caught the apple her father tossed across the kitchen. She took a bite, mumbling a thanks as she gathered the rest of her shit for the day.

“Last first day of school,” Catrina said, coming up beside her daughter. “It’s hard to believe you’re a senior and you’re never going to have a first day again after this.”

“She still has college, Catrina.” Her father chuckled. “And you’re already working on being late, Catty.”

Senior year was sure to be fun if she started it out on the wrong foot by being late.

Catherine gave her parents a dirty look over her shoulder. “Yeah, yeah. Ha, ha. Keep laughing.”

A horn blared outside, making Catherine peer outside the kitchen window that overlooked the front drive. “Shit, I got to go.”

“Is that—”

“Cross,” Catherine filled in before her father could finish. “Yeah, he’s taking me this morning. I asked, so.”

Dante passed Catrina a look that was returned with a shrug. Catherine didn’t have time for her parents’ silent conversations. She had settled down a lot over the summer, giving them less anxiety and heartache than she had for nearly the entire previous school year, but she knew they still worried.

It had gotten to a point where her parents just took a step back, and waited her out. It worked, for the most part, but not because of them.

She was doing better, mentally and emotionally. Her anxious spells and darker thoughts were easier to work through, or sometimes she had long periods where they didn’t bother her at all. She didn’t explain that to her parents, though. Just like how she never explained to them that for almost an entire year, she had done everything possible she could to get rid of her anxiety and depression that never seemed to wane for very long.