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“We’re getting deep here,” I joke.
“It’s a simple question.”
“No,” I reply. “I didn’t.”
“Have you ever loved someone?” she murmurs.
We meet eyes. I stare back unflinchingly. She already knows the answer to that. Slowly, she nods, looking out across the grass.
“Not Nick,” she says. “Right?”
“I don’t want to talk about this.”
“I just don’t understand, Josephine.”
“It’sJosie,” I snap. “JosieGoddamn Mayor.”
Mum blinks, jolting a little in surprise at my tone. “Right. I’ll get used to it.”
“There’s a studio apartment close to town that I’m going to apply for.”
“You’ll stay here,” she says firmly.
“Leaving already?” a deep voice says from behind us.
I startle, not having heard Dad return home. I swivel my gaze to where he is leaning against the kitchen doorway, his skin flushed red from the heat and slick with sweat.
“Lasted five minutes,” he says. “Should have put money on it.”
“Bruce.” Mum frowns.
Resentment built up from the last four years plagues him. He hasn’t met my eyes in three days.
“Leave.” Dad shrugs, pushing off the frame. “It’s what you’re best at. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
I stare after him, a retort hot on my tongue, but I swallow it.
“He doesn’t mean it, hon,” my mother murmurs.
Not taking my eyes off the doorway, I offer a half-shrug.
“Yeah. He does.”
