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Nerves bounce inside me like fireflies in a jar. “I can’t. I have to work.”
“What about Tuesday?”
“I, uh—I’m busy.”
He laughs in triumph. “You still can’t lie worth a shit. You’re off Tuesday. I’ll meet you here at ten a.m.? If you say no, I’ll find out where you live from your parents and fill the place with balloons. Wall to wall, Peapod.”
I gape at him. “You wouldn’t.”
He grins wickedly. “Oh, I definitely would.”
“Fine,” I snap. “But we’re not driving together. I’ll meet you there.”
“Fine,” he says smugly.
I stand up and glare at him. “Good night, Lucas. I hope you dream about zombies snacking on your fingers.”
His laughter follows me back into the house.
10
“Hey, Michelle. Now’s not really a good time.”
“Too bad. What are you doing?”
I’m staring at the lake, its surface glinting in the morning sunlight, and trying not to throw up as I wait for Celeste to get here.
“Nothing,” I tell my nosy sister.
Her aggravated sigh makes me smile. “Bullshit. You didn’t call me back on Sunday.”
“I was busy.”
“It’s Sun River,” she snaps. “The opposite of busy. What were you doing?”
Sitting on a rusted bench with Celeste Miller.
“Cooking Mom dinner.”
Her tone shifts, softening. “How is she?”
I watch a red-tailed hawk soaring above the distant tree line. “Perpetually buzzed, as usual. Now that I’m staying with her, she doesn’t even bother hiding it.”
Michelle sighs. “I never should have told her about that wine delivery service.”
“It’s not your fault,” I say quickly. “At least now she isn’t driving to the liquor store drunk.”
“Lucas, I know you think there’s still a chance she’ll come around, stop drinking, and move up here. But it’s not on you. She makes her own choices.” She hesitates. “Maybe you shouldn’t be in that house.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine. Besides, she’s a happy drunk. Shit, it’s almost like how it was before… you know.”
Before our dad had one failed investment too many, before he lost the respect of his business partners. Before he went from occasionally drunk and mad to always drunk and mad. Before I started putting myself between him and my mom.
“Thank you for protecting us,” my sister says softly.
I cough to clear emotion from my throat, then turn at the sound of tires over gravel. “I gotta go.”
“Okay. Call me later. Love you, Lucy.”
