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ationships” into the search engine. Even though he hid it well, she knew he was hurting and vulnerable. She wasn’t going to let some opportunistic woman take advantage of that. The last thing little Molly needed was a parade of strange women marching through the house.
Her father put his arm round her but she ducked away, even though she needed a hug more than anything.
He looked stunned. “What’s wrong? You’re not normally like this.”
“Sorry. Long day.” Clamping her jaws together, Izzy shook another towel out and folded it.
“Do you really think I’ve forgotten her?”
“I don’t know. Seems that way, that’s all.”
It freaked her out that he could be so calm. She tried to be the same, but he set a high bar. Did he cry? Did he ever howl in the shower like she did? Her tears poured down the drain along with the water. She wanted to know she was normal, that she wasn’t the only one who felt this bad, even though deep down she knew it would scare her to see his tears.
It was a totally crap situation, but if he could be brave and stoic then so could she.
If he could hold it together then so could she. She’d managed well, hadn’t she? Until today.
She folded another towel, and then another, until she had a neat pile. It amazed her how soothing it felt to have completed that one small task.
Mrs. Cameron came in every morning to clean the house and do the laundry, but it was Izzy who removed it from the dryer and folded it all. She didn’t mind. It was a bit like meditation.
“I made homemade veggie burgers for supper.”
“Again? Didn’t we have them two nights ago?”
“They’re Molly’s favorite.” But maybe she should have been making her dad’s favorite, not her sister’s. Pressure, pressure, pressure.
“You made a good decision, Izz. You’re my superstar. Your mom would have been so proud.” He picked up the stack of towels she’d folded. “Molly didn’t eat the lunch I made her this morning.”
“Did you give her ham? She hates ham.”
“She does?” He looked surprised. “I’ll try to remember that. What would I do without you? You’re a good cook, and you’re so great with Molly.”
“She’s my sister. Family.” She was struggling to hold the family together, and now he was planning on inviting a stranger into their home. Although the woman obviously wasn’t a stranger to him. Had he had sex with her? Izzy felt her face turn hot and her chest tighten. A girl at school had panic attacks all the time. Izzy had never had one, not a proper one, but she suspected they were lurking round the corner. What if she had one when she was watching Molly? She forced herself to breathe slowly, and tried not to picture her dad naked with another woman.
The problem with being a family was that every member was affected by the actions of an individual. This should be her dad’s business, except it wasn’t.
“I haven’t forgotten your mom, Izzy.” His quiet tone poked at the small, miserable part of herself that wasn’t bursting with anger.
Maybe he hadn’t forgotten her, but he’d moved on. Her head was full of questions, most of them beginning with “why.”
Why had this happened to her mom? And why didn’t her dad feel guilty, when she felt guilty all the time? Guilty for all the times she hadn’t hugged her mother or told her that she loved her, guilty for never making her bed and for leaving empty milk cartons in the fridge. Most of all she felt guilty about that last fight they’d had before her mother had left the house that night. The one she couldn’t talk about. The one she hadn’t mentioned to anyone, not her friends and certainly not her dad. She didn’t dare say anything to her dad. If she did—well, she couldn’t. No way. It would change everything. The family she’d been working so hard to protect would be blown apart.
Thinking about it stung like squeezing lemon onto a cut.
“When is she coming? I’ll take Molly to the park or something.”
“I don’t want you to do that. I invited her here so she can meet you both.”
Were all men so clueless? She was used to people doing and saying the wrong thing around her, it happened all the time, but the fact that her own dad couldn’t see the bigger picture was particularly hurtful. “You don’t think that’s confusing for Molly?”
“She’s a friend, that’s all. You and Molly have friends over.”
Izzy dragged the rest of the laundry out of the dryer. “So are you telling me this is a sleepover situation?” She saw color streak across her father’s cheeks.
“It’s dinner, that’s all.”
She was tempted to tell him to take the woman out for dinner somewhere else, well away from the family home, but part of her thought it might be better to keep it close. At least then she’d be able to see what was going on. What did this woman want exactly?
