AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you,” he said, picking up his fork. “I’m sure it’s delicious.”
I gaped at him, watching him spoon a bite of gumbo into his mouth. Man, when he did things like that—criticizing one minute and apologizing the next—it threw me off. I could handle all of Dad’s split personalities—Loving Dad, Suspicious Dad, Grouchy Dad—but every time he switched gears unexpectedly between his many incarnations, I was left flat-footed.
“You all right?” he asked. “You seem…distracted.”
Distracted. Sleepless. Confused. Sometimes hopeful. Usually worried. I was a delightful mix of all the worst emotions and I wanted to climb right out of my skin.
In the past week, I’d attended the first two foster parent orientation meetings and I’d sent off my paperwork with letters of recommendation from Nora, Gaetan and teachers from the Academy. Now I had to wait for the home visit.
But that wasn’t all.
Talk to your Dad.
Tyler O’Neill was back in my life, back in my head, and I didn’t know what to do about it, how to get rid of him.
I wasn’t to be trusted around that man, because every day I went and picked up Miguel, and every day I had to tell myself that Tyler hadn’t changed. Not really. Despite appearances. Tyler was a master of reflection—of showing people what they wanted to see.
And apparently I wanted to see a changed Tyler, which was just nuts. Crazy. Suicidal.
Talk To Your Dad.
“I’m fine, Dad,” I said with a smile, wishing I could tell my father everything and he could make it all go away. But he’d never really been that kind of Dad. Actually - I’d never been that kind of daughter. “Just tired.”
“You doing some light reading?” Dad asked, pointing to the two giant juvenile psychology textbooks I had stacked at the end of the table.
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “I’ve made myself family officer.”
“Family what?” Jasper asked, setting down his spoon, sitting back with a serious air of disapproval.
I explained, as calmly as I could, the new aspect of my job, all while he sat across from me like a growing storm cloud.
“Is this about that boy you’ve got working out at The Manor? The boy who tried to steal that car?”
“Now.” I sat back, my nerves on edge. “How do you know that?”
“The whole town knows, Juliette,” he said, spearing a shrimp, his fork grating against the bottom of the bowl.
“Yes,” I said through my teeth, bracing for the lecture. “It is about Miguel. It’s about Miguel and the rising juvenile crime rate in Bonne Terre.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything. His thin nose practically twitched with his displeasure, but I took it as a small victory that he managed to keep his mouth shut.
But it couldn’t last. Didn’t.
Within moments, he threw down his fork and glared at me.
“I thought that boy was going to be taken to DOC!”
“Why in the world would—” I stopped, a terrible, terrible idea forming in my head. “No,” I breathed.
“You can’t protect the criminals.”
“It was you,” I gasped, the fork clattering out of my hand. I couldn’t catch my breath. Anger and hurt obliterated any brain function. “You called the Office of Community Services.”
“You couldn’t keep what you were doing a secret forever,” Jasper said. “I was trying to help.”
“Help!” I cried. My father was insane, there was no other explanation. Somewhere along the way his love for me had gotten completely destroyed by his job.
“I could have lost my job!” I cried, and he brushed away my concerns with an elegant wave of his hand.
“You wouldn’t have lost your job,” he said. “But you would have learned an important lesson about the nature of your job.”
“Tell me,” I asked, “who were you trying to hurt, Dad? Miguel, Tyler or me?”
“Listen to yourself. Hurt you? By sending a troublemaking kid where he belongs? You’re too attached. Too damn soft.”
“That’s not true, Dad. Not at all. I’m good at my job. Damn good. And the world has changed—”
“I know, I know police are supposed to counsel and hold hands—”
“We’re supposed to help! We’re supposed to be reasonable—”
“Reasonable? I suppose that would explain why Tyler O’Neill is still in town,” Jasper said, leaning forward, his words a terrible slap.
I breathed hard through my nose.
“Tyler O’Neill is in town because he’s done nothing wrong.”
“People like Tyler O’Neill need to be shown who’s in charge, otherwise they run around taking things that don’t belong to them. Same as that Miguel boy.”
I tilted my head, my skin cold and prickly with anger. “I’m sorry, are you referring to me as a thing?”
“You had no business sneaking around with him behind my back.”
“That was ten years ago.”
“Are you saying you’re not doing it now?”
“I am a grown-ass woman, Dad. I don’t need to sneak anything.”
“You can be mad at me all you want,” he said. “But that boy left you without a word. Without so much as a goodbye.”
