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“I’ll have breakfast with you,” Jenna says in a voice that sounds like she’s five. “Mom wouldn’t let me eat. She made me go to my room.”
“Why? What did you do?”
“She wouldn’t stop demanding that I take her for a manicure,” my mom says, her voice rising in pitch, a sign she’s getting angry. “And now you’ve just given her what she wants.”
“It’s not worth fighting about. Let’s go eat.” I hear my dad’s footsteps on the wood floor.
Nova and I scramble to get up, but my dad’s there before we can even make it past the table. We could run through the kitchen and go out to the garage, but what’s the point? He’s already seen us.
My dad’s eyes shoot straight to Nova. “What is going on here?” He already looks angry, his brows drawn together, his eyes narrowed.
“Stephen, I was trying to tell you,” my mom says, standing beside him.
“Tell me what?”
“That Easton’s girlfriend moved in with us,” Jenna says, a smug grin on her face.
“She WHAT?” my dad yells, so loud I swear it echoed. He turns to my mom. “You allowed her to move in?”
“Stephen, just let me explain,” my mom says, getting in front of him.
“There is nothing to explain! We had an agreement!”
“Yes, but that was before—”
“I don’t want to hear it!” my dad interrupts. “How long has she been here?”
“A week,” Jenna says. “Actually, it’s been more than a week. She got here the night you left.”
“Up to your room!” my mom yells at Jenna. “Now!”
“I’m having breakfast with Dad.” Jenna walks over to the table, where her plate is still sitting.
“Then we will talk somewhere else,” my mom says. “Stephen, let’s go to your office.”
He points at Nova. “I want you out of here right now!”
Nova nods and runs past him toward the garage.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I yell at my dad. I race after Nova and find her in the garage, standing by her car.
“I don’t have the keys.” She’s looking at her hands like the keys should be there. Her hands are shaking. Her whole body’s shaking.
I wrap her in my arms. “I’ll get the keys. We’ll go somewhere and come back. They just need time to talk. It’ll be okay. My mom will talk to him.”
“He won’t let me stay,” she says, her voice cracking. “I knew this would happen. I knew he wouldn’t let me stay.”
“He will. He just needs time. My mom wasn’t okay with it either at first but now look at her. She treats you like a daughter.”
“Your mom never acted like your dad did just now. She didn’t yell at me to leave.” Nova pushes me back. “Get the keys. We need to get out of here.”
I go back into the house and hear my mom and dad screaming at each other.
“She has nowhere to go!” my mom yells.
“That’s HER problem, not ours! She has done enough damage to this family!”
What damage? Nova didn’t do any damage. She just needed a place to stay.
