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Especially today. His only daughter had just had her heart broken by the local stud and it took every tiny bit of self-control John possessed not to ride over to the boy’s house and strangle him to death for making his baby hurt. The boy was a senior, and apparently he’d dumped Julz for an older girl, Shailene, whose loose reputation preceded her. John knew of her reputation because he’d had to personally escort Shailene from his clubhouse on several occasions after finding the underage girl drunk and making a play for some young prospect’s cock.
It reinforced John’s desire to keep Juliette away from his world, but at the same time she was forced into it, because there were only so many places he could keep an eye on her. And entrusting his wife to watch over their daughter was like throwing chum into shark-infested waters and then expecting the sharks to stay away. Caroline always found some way to endanger their daughter, either through sheer neglect, or by doing something completely inappropriate like taking her on a trip to score some blow and making her wait in the car. In the projects. At three in the morning.
Yeah, Caroline didn’t get to be in charge of their daughter anymore, and that was probably the only reason she was still relatively young compared to girls like Shailene.
John was glad for today.
‘What’ll it be?’ he asked Mariana and Juliette. Mariana was across from him, a look on her face that said she was still trying to figure out what was going on, and Juliette was beside him, crammed into the middle of the U-shaped booth.
Juliette shrugged, taking her headphones out. ‘Whatever.’
Mariana smiled, looking at the menu. ‘Surprise me.’
As John approached the counter, he heard Mariana talking to his daughter. Maybe because she wasn’t high like Caroline, he thought. No. Today was not about Caroline, or about worrying. Today was a goddamn day off from everything, and unless somebody called to say somebody was dying, they could fuck off until tomorrow.
The woman who owned the place knew his order by heart. ‘Add in a . . .’ He surveyed the glass display cabinet, reading each flavour as his eyes passed over the ice cream, ‘strawberry, as well.’
He didn’t pay for anything here. He’d stopped trying to years ago, after Didi, the owner, had told him his money wasn’t welcome. Before John had started frequenting the place, it had been robbed so many times that she was considering boarding the place up and declaring bankruptcy. But John couldn’t have that. If they closed, he would have had to take little Juliette to one of those crappy chain stores to buy ice cream, and they sure as shit didn’t have a view out to the ocean and the Ferris wheel like this place did.
As Didi bustled off to prepare his order, John couldn’t help but listen in to what Mariana and Juliette were talking about. It was quiet in this corner of the store, and the acoustics were excellent. He felt bad for eavesdropping, but he was worried about Julz and her poor broken heart, and he needed to make sure she was okay. She wouldn’t speak a word to him about what had happened, and so for her to be chatting up a storm with Mariana made his heart lift.
‘Most boys are idiots,’ Mariana was saying. ‘Especially the popular ones. What was his excuse?’
‘He wanted to fuck me,’ Juliette said plainly. ‘So I dumped him. And he told the whole school he dumped me first.’
John stole a glance at them, his hands balled up into fists, his head about to explode at the casual way his teenage daughter had just mentioned some guy wanting to fuck her. John debated getting the club together and cutting the boy’s dick off.
Mariana’s eyebrows looked like they were about to lift the ceiling off. ‘You should get your revenge on this boy,’ Mariana said. ‘Nothing dangerous, nothing that would lead back to you. But maybe a rumour.’
Juliette leaned in closer. ‘What kind of rumour?’
Mariana smiled. ‘Oh, you know, something like . . . he’s got herpes or something. Tell people you had to dump him because you caught him kissing his sister.’
Juliette laughed. Mariana looked directly at John and smiled, as if she knew he’d been listening the entire time. John grabbed the ice creams, which had been sitting in the holder for some time already, and took them over to the booth as if he hadn’t heard a thing.
‘My mama used to make ice cream from fresh cream and strawberries,’ Mariana said, taking a bite of her cone. Almost as soon as the words had left her mouth, she seemed to still, her eyes widening slightly, before she composed herself again.
If John had blinked, he would have missed it.
‘Do you see her often?’ John asked, his tone casual. ‘Your mama?’
Mariana froze like a deer in headlights, bracing for the car that was about to plough headfirst into her.
Juliette poked her father. ‘Can I play the pinball machine?’
John reached into his pocket, taking a pile of loose change and giving it to her. Immediately, he felt lighter. He hated carrying shrapnel around. ‘Stay where I can see you,’ he said softly. Juliette rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. ‘Yes, Daddy,’ she said, climbing out over the back of the booth and heading for the small bank of pinball machines in the far corner of the icecream parlour.
John turned his attention back to Mariana, who was staring out of the window at the water, her ice cream starting to melt in her hand, forgotten.
‘You know, in all the time I’ve known you, I’ve never heard you talk about your family. I’ve never really heard you talk about . . . anything.’
She turned back to meet his gaze; her lips pressed together tightly. ‘Yes, I know that.’
John raised his eyebrows slightly. ‘How’s your ice cream?’ Great. She was gonna clam up before he’d even said three words to her.
She smiled, but her eyes remained impassive. ‘Cold,’ she said, holding it away from her like it was poisoned. ‘It’s cold.’
John laughed. Mariana remained stony faced and silent.
