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“No one,” I called back.
Dad stiffened at the barb. “I wanted to see you today,” he said and waggled the gift. Some of the paper had come loose, but I didn’t need to see the label to know it was a bottle of vodka.
“I’m fifteen,” I said and pointed at the contents.
He seemed confused and exhausted, but there was nothing in my heart I could find to say to him. I didn’t want him here, but I was frozen.
“Who did that to your hair?” Dad asked, and I almost reached up to touch the deep pink I had going on. “I hope you can get a refund,” he laughed, and I think he was trying to make a joke. “You haven’t grown much,” he added. “Still, itty bitty Tyler. All pink and still gay? Here, take your present.”
Fuck you!I didn’t say that out loud, but all the slurs and the names and the pointed comments flew back at me.
Felix pressed a hand to my shoulder, and it startled me because I hadn’t heard him step up to me. “The ’rents sent me to find out what’s going on,” he murmured. My dad frowned, all pretense at being kind slipping away. He moved closer, and I took a step back, right into Felix, who steadied me. “Everything okay here?” Felix asked.
“Who’s this?” Dad asked, his voice slurring, pointing at Felix.
Felix ignored him. I ignored him. “What do you want me to do?” Felix murmured.
“Call 911,” I said with all the calm I could muster, staring Dad right in the face. “There’s a restraining order on William Alexander Corrigan, and he’s on our property.”
Felix immediately did what he was asked, and he didn’t move an inch from my back as he connected to the cops.
“What the fuck you do that for?” Dad went for hurt, but he wasn’t the gaslighting expert he thought he was, and his wounded expression wasn’t moving me for an instant. “I’m your father. It’s Christmas. I just want to see you, and I have a right to—”
“You have no rights!” Mom flew past me—god she was fast—James was right on her tail trying to catch her. Dad stumbled back, the present falling and smashing on the ground as Mom rounded on him. “Call 911!” she shouted back.
“Already done, and I’m leaving the line open,” Felix replied, then tipped his phone. “And recording everything.”
There was a face-off, James was right behind Mom, and Mom was way too close to my dad, whose demeanor changed in an instant.
“Who the fuck is this?” he shouted right in her face, and she winced, but didn’t back down, and James stepped out to stand by her side. “You moved into my house?” Dad said, confused, slurring, and swaying on our pathway. It was cold—it hit me that all four of us, still in PJs and just socks, were standing in the snow with an icy breeze making flakes swirl from the trees lining the path. I shivered, Felix rubbed my arm and tugged me back to the house, but I stopped him, yanking myself free.
“I’m not leaving my mom alone with him!” I yelled at Felix, who immediately backed down, but stayed right by my side.
“My dad is there,” Felix murmured. “I’m here.”
My chest was so tight I thought that the panic might overwhelm me, but then, I heard sirens, and saw a car sweeping into our drive, flashing lights, and two cops. Everything was a blur. They carted dad off, as he screamed obscenities, laughing, then crying, and the remains of the vodka still lay outside. I padded into the kitchen, grabbed the dustpan, and went back to clear the glass, but Felix, who still hadn’t left my side, took it from me and got any shards into a bag for disposal.
Mom hugged me. James hugged Mom. We sat in the kitchen with hot chocolate, me and Mom holding hands. Then it was James she held on to as well, even as she hugged me.
I unpeeled my fingers, shooing her away. “Get the hugs, Mom,” I said with a smile.
She reached for me. “Are you okay?”
I nodded, then concentrated on breaking pieces of Dairy Milk into my hot chocolate, poking at them with my spoon. Felix copied, and I didn’t tell him he couldn’t have my candy. Why would that asshole of a dad come and ruin our perfect day? Why would he do this to us? Felix was messaging someone—probably Soren—and I was ashamed that, maybe, he was spreading around what happened, but he abruptly squeezed my hand, then tugged me out of the kitchen, gripping the top of my PJs and dragging me down the hall to the door. He flung it open, and I winced, expecting Dad, expecting danger.
But it was Jonah, with his mom, dad, and the girls, with boxes and smiles. Jonah immediately put his box down, which was full of food, and stood in front of me.
“Felix called me,” he said.
“We wanted to be here for you and your mom.” Jonah’s mom sounded unsure.
“She’ll love that; she needs that; she… the house is too…” I wasn’t making any sense. Everyone moved in and the door closed, the cold locked outside.
Then, I was in Jonah’s arms.
And it was everything.
ChapterSeventeen
