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She didn’t respond, but a minute later, she and my father rounded the corner. Lydia was still smoking. She looked the same as the last time I’d seen her—pissed off and hung over, her orangey-blond hair slicked back into a bun. But she had a new, large tattoo on the front of her thigh, the face of a lion. I bet Bryce had paid for that.
My father followed her. He was still handsome, but years of drinking had worn him down. His pants were sagging, his black T-shirt faded. His hair was sticking up,Northeast Nightsbedhead.
Lydia took a drag off her cigarette. She seemed wired, shaky. My dad looked uncomfortable, like I was about to give him a root canal with no novocaine.
“Are those our coffees?”
“Oh—yeah. Sorry.” I handed them over, then stood there awkwardly.
“So, I’m glad you’re here. Even though it’s too early” Apparently, Lydia was running the meeting. “Your father and I are very upset. We don’t like the way we’re being treated in all this. It’s disrespectful.”
I dug my nails into my palms. “I’m sorry that you feel that way,” I said.
“Oh you will be, honey—you will be.” She started pacing, drinking her coffee, and smoking. “I told you we got screwed at that casino, but Miss High-and-Mighty didn’t have time for us, did ya? You sent that bitch of a lawyer, instead. And all she gave us was thirty thousand while you’re living in a mansion!”
“Thirty thousand dollars is a lot of money,” I said quietly. “Especially when you add it on top of the million that Bryce already gave you.”
“Especially when you add it on top of the million Bryce gave you,” Lydia mimicked, a scowl on her face. “Would you listen to yourself? Who do you think you are, huh? You just marry this guy out of nowhere, and now your shit don’t stink?Somethin’sure smells.”
I took a deep breath. I was not going to let Lydia get to me. I wasnotgoing to think about the fact that she’d called my dead mother a stuck-up bitch, I was not going to think about the time she’d screamed at Noah because he’d tripped and knocked her ashtray over, I was not going to think about the fact that she’d thrown us out on the streets because she was a lazy, selfish bitch and now she was trying to extort money from me. “I’m here because I want to help. What do you need?”
“Can you believe this?” Lydia turned to my father. “She’s acting all sweet and nice as pie now! I’m telling you, it’s an act!”
“It’s not an act, Lydia. I just want to give you what you need. Tell me what that is, and I’ll see what I can do.”
She turned back to me, a gleam in her eye. “We want three million dollars. Cash. Today.”
I almost choked. “I can’t do that! What are you, crazy?”
“Fine.” My step-monster looked almost gleeful. “If you can’t give it to us, someone else will. I’m sure either your husband or his dad will be happy to make a deal with us. Ooh, or the newspapers. I’ve been wanting to call them and tell them who you really are. It’s interestin’ that none of those articles talks about us, you know? It’s almost like you’re ashamed of your family. Ashamed of where you come from. Trying to hide something, aren’t you?”
My heart started racing. A chill needled my back. This couldnotbe fucking happening right now.
My dad stepped forward. “We talked to a law firm. We’re being represented. I didn’t agree to let you take your brother like that. That fancy Asian lawyer of yours tricked me into believing he was just coming up for the summer. She pulled a bait and switch—that’s whatmylawyer said.”
“Dad?” I blinked at him. “Do you really think I’d try to trick you into something?”
“I don’t know. But maybe I don’t know you at all anymore, do I? I think it’s crazy that you married some rich guy, and now your picture’s all over the internet.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Idothink you and your rich-ass husband took advantage of me. Idon’tthink what’s happening up here is great for your brother—”
“Since when have you ever cared about him, huh?” I surprised myself by hollering.
“You watch your tone. Don’t you disrespect your father like that!” Lydia got in my face, a cloud of cigarette smoke, white-wine breath, and body odor.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Lydia?Disrespecthim? Or you?” My voice kept rising. Help me God, I was losing it. “All you guys have done is treat us like trash! My brother doesn’t deserve that!”
“See?” Lydia turned to my dad. “I told you she was a little bitch! You didn’t believe me but it’s true!Thisis what she’s really like!”
“Chloe.”My father’s voice was ice. “That’s enough. Lydia said you’ve been being really rude to her. Like you don’t know us anymore, or something. Now that it’s convenient for you, you act like we’re nothing. How’s that supposed to make us feel, huh?”
“I’m supposed to care about yourfeelings? Lydiathrew us out of your apartment!” All of a sudden, it was like a dam burst inside me. I couldn’t stop myself from yelling. “And you didn’t do anything about it! You took the money and you never even called him! You don’t even care! You’ve never even cared! You’re a shitty excuse for a father—you always have been!”
He looked like I’d slapped him. “That’s enough,” he said.
It was more than enough: it was the truth, and the truth hurt.
“Fine.” I was shaking.
Lydia watched us with interest, a half-smile on her face. She was probably enjoying this: the final nail on the coffin of my father’s relationship with me. I wanted to shake her, to tell her that it had been dead and buried a long time ago. But there was no point.
