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“Oh, but it’s so much fun,” she laughs before finally sitting down. “Fine.” She opens her proposal. “Okay, Sawyer. Wow me.”
“Yeah, Sawyer,” Becks agrees. “Wow us.”
Lenny snickers, and Max checks his watch. “Okay, let’s hear him out. Go ahead, Sawyer.”
“Thanks, Max.”
“Wow us,” he responds, and I swear to God, my siblings are assholes. Every single one of them—except Madeline. She’s too young to be an asshole yet. But give her time, and I’m sure she’ll join the ranks of the rest of us.
I guess they’re finally ready to take me seriously because the four stooges stop busting my balls long enough to shut up and listen while I present my proposal for the angel investment firm—King Investments—and what I want to do with it in Kroydon Hills.
* * *
Wren
I’m not sure what I was expecting when I sat down at my parents’ dinner table and decided now was the time to drop the bomb.
I guess I expected an argument, or tears, or maybe an apology.
What I got was silence.
Complete silence.
Nobody speaks.
Nobody moves.
Neither of them so much as shift their eyes from me.
They don’t even look at each other. It’s like the world has stopped spinning.
“Say something,” I demand. “Tell me why you let me believe that this was Sawyer’s fault for years. Tell me Haley was wrong and you didn’t know. Tell me you didn’t know she started using the year before the accident. Tell me you didn’t let me blame someone who should never have had to carry that burden.”
My mother finally looks at my father and takes a deep breath before answering me. “One day, you’ll have children, and then you’ll understand the need to protect your child at all costs, Wren. Your sister’s life was turned upside down in a matter of days. We didn’t know about the drugs. We just knew she was hurt and the accident would have life-altering consequences for her.”
“We didn’t know the truth right away.” Dad picks up his bourbon and swirls it in the crystal glass. “It came out a few days later when we were told they were going to amputate Haley’s foot. The truth came out in the chaos of the week and the following weeks and months that turned into years. Our lives were turned upside down, and I guess we never thought about correcting everyone’s assumptions. We were just so worried about our little girl, we didn’t think about the consequences facing anyone else.”
I slam my napkin down over my uneaten food. “But John Kingston was your best friend, and Sawyer was his son. How could you do that to them?” I want to scream,How could you do that to me? But I bite my tongue... for now.
“Honey,” my mom starts, then stops when I level my glare her way. “We weren’t thinking.”
“You’re right. You weren’t. You let me believe a lie for a huge part of my life.” I look my father’s way. “I was your little girl too. And by trying to protect one, you failed the other.” I reach down into my bag and pull out the folder full of resumes and my notes and hand it to my mother. “I circled the two I like. I think you should hire them and take your vacation as soon as you can, Mom. I think it would be best for all of us.”
“We love you, Wren. You’ve got to know that,” Dad tells me as I rise from my chair.
“I do know that, Daddy. I also know we went through hell during those years. But I still deserved to know the truth. I was affected too, but no one thought about that. You protected her but hurt me. That’s going to take some time to get over.”
I grab my bag and look at my mom. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t take as long as this did.”
I walk out of the room with my head held high and grab my coat.
I don’t turn around. I can’t. But I do tell them, “I love you too,” before I leave the house.
This is all too fucked up for words.
SAWYER
Ilook at my watch for the tenth time in the last ten minutes and wonder if Quinn knew what she was talking about.
