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“Of course it matters! He’s on the faculty of your school.”
The frustration I’ve been biting back rises into my throat. “But you don’t actually care that he’s my professor. You only care that he supposedly stole from you.”
The elevator doors glide open. My dad’s gaze narrows.
“Gavin Dunn isyourprofessor?”
Groaning, I step into the hall. “It’s just a stupid elective.”
My dad’s anger rages like a bonfire at my back as he trails me through the birthing center, all the way to my sister’s room.
“I don’t care what class it is, Alexis. This is unacceptable.”
Erica looks up as we enter her hospital room.
“What the hell is Dad shouting about?” Bracing both hands against the wall, she groans softly as my mom massages her lower back.
“Your sister has involved herself with Gavin Dunn,” he says.
“No shit.” She winces, accepting the hand Lorenzo offers and squeezing it as another contraction rips through her body.
“You knew about this?” Our dad throws up his hands. “What am I saying. You knew Gavin was teaching at Brookstone, and you didn’t tell me.”
“Because I knew this was how you’d react.” Her face twists in agony.
“Shh, it’s okay,” my mom coos, then turns to my dad. “Frank, Erica is at nine centimeters. We are not talking about this now.”
“I can’t believe you all expect me to sit here and be calm,” he says.
“No, Frank, we expect you to focus on what’s important.”
He folds his arms across his chest, indignant. “Fine. I guess my daughters’ betrayal isn’t that important after all. I swear, the second we get home, I’m calling Carl and insisting he demand Gavin’s resignation.”
“Oh, would you give it a rest, Dad,” says Erica. “Alexis is a grown-ass woman and it’s none of your damn business who she chooses to date.”
My jaw drops in response to my sister’s uncharacteristic defense of my independence. Our dad scoffs and shakes his head.
“What is this?” he asks. “You’re not even a parent yet, and you’re trying to tell me how to parent my own daughter.”
“You barely know...your own daughters.” Erica clenches her jaw, breathing heavily through what I can only assume is another agonizing contraction. “If you’d bothered to take a real interest in either of us, you’d know that Alexis has been in love with Gavin for years, and that I fuckinghateteaching. I’ve always...fucking...hated it. And it wouldn’t surprise you to learn that I’m not going back to it after maternity leave.”
For a tense moment, the only sound in the room is Erica’s controlled breathing.
Dad’s arms drop to his sides. “How can you say that? You’ve always loved school.”
“No,” Erica says, panting. “I pretended to love school because it was the only way you’d pay attention to me.”
“That’s preposterous!”
Erica’s biting laugh makes my arm hairs stand on-end. “Is it? Why do you think I planted those letters in Gavin’s room? Because you made me compete with your research, and your research assistant, for attention. If he hadn’t left, you wouldn’t have said more than ten words to me that entire summer.”
The weight of Erica’s admission lands directly on my chest.
“You put the letters in Gavin’s drawer?”
“I did,” she says, breathless. “And I have lived with the guilt from that decision for the past five years. I’m so sorry, Alexis. You have no idea how sorry I am.”
Dad drops into a chair by the window. “Erica, this isn’t fair. I championed you every step of the way through college and graduate school—”
