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I listen to her exaggerated blubbering for the next thirty seconds, too shocked to roll my eyes.
“Come on, darling. Let’s go inside and get you cleaned up.” He takes her hand so gently and kisses it like she’s a scared kitten, wiping the drink splatter off her arm with his sleeve. Then he looks at me again with a betrayal I’ve never seen in his eyes. “You, Cordelia, take your plate to the kitchen right now and wait for me in my office. Don’t try to leave. And if you wreck anything else around here, if you damage our home, I won’t be bailing you out next time.”
His words are sheets of ice.
I’m so sick at how cold, how disappointed, howdelusionalhe is that I can’t speak.
They turn sharply and head for the house.
No flipping way.
I take off, jogging after them, feeling several stray glass shards sticking in my shoes.Ugh.
“Dad, no—wait! She’s lying. Do you really think I’d ever...” I swallow, still too bewildered to say it out loud. “That crap ishers.She pulled it out and startled me, and I—I didn’t mean to hit her. She threw her drink at me. I’m not crazy! Dad, she’s nuts. Please, wait! Don’t listen to her.”
Evie makes an exaggerated, broken sound before he can look at me. Her face lifts off his shoulder, and she’s wailing so loud it hurts my ears.
I’m going to vomit.
Dad stops, turns around, and gives me a look like he’s ready to strangle me.
“Cordelia, shut it. Haven’t you done enough to my wife? Or were you just keeping thattrashsafe for your stepbrother when he comes home?” He shakes his head limply as my mouth falls open. “Jesus Christ. I...I can’t believe you. You’re innoposition to judge anyone after today.”
I’m not sure what’s crueler—his words or that arctic gaze that spears through me.
I’m totally paralyzed.
So I stop in my tracks and watch them retreat inside, Evie still clinging to him like a wounded animal, and Dad hypnotized by every wicked word.
The skies have cleared up overhead.
The stars struggle to shine out through the lingering thin clouds and the city’s light pollution.
For once, I know how they feel, struggling through the infinite, empty blackness.
I’m completely alone in my own home.
* * *
Dad doesn’t lookat me as he marches past into his office.
He just stops behind his desk and scowls like an inquisitor.
I’ve only seen that look on his face once or twice before, during airline financial stress, and never so furious. Never so personal.
He’s less angry CEO and all scorned father.
My voice feels so small when I find it. “Dad, before you start, I want you to know—”
“No. No more excuses, Cordelia. What you did affects this entire family—and if you were hiding drugs for him, if he put you up to this, I need you to come clean. Right now.”
What?
For a second, I just blink at him because I can’t believe my ears.
“Drugs? Are you out of your effing mind?” I’m yelling. “Seriously? You think Chris is ondrugs?”
His face falls.
