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I follow the sound of Maggie’s raised voice into my parents’ bedroom.
“Midnight!” Maggie tosses her hair over one shoulder, squaring off against my mom, who’s folding laundry on the bed.
“Ten thirty.”
“I’m starting college next week, Mom! I could come back to the dorms at four a.m., and no one would care! A littletrust, please.”
“You’re not at school yet, Magnolia. You live here right now, and I don’t want you coming home in the middle of the night. You’ll wake everyone up. And I want to go to bed, knowing you’re home and safe.”
“Silas is taking me to dinner at a new restaurant in Blackford. If I have to be home that early, it’ll ruin the whole meal.”
“Eat dinner somewhere closer, then,” my mom suggests.
“Ugh!” Maggie throws her hands up in the air, then spins and stalks toward the door, almost colliding with me. “Couldn’t you have rebelled a little bit, Cassia?” she asks. “Made this a little easier on me?”
My mom sighs as Maggie disappears down the hall, then keeps folding laundry. “Hi, honey. How was work?”
I exhale. “Fine.”
“Are you hanging out with Holden tonight?”
Oxygen stalls in my lungs. “What?”
She tosses some socks, then glances over at me. “He stopped by here last night. I let him know you were over at London’s. I thought you two might be spending tonight together. He’s welcome to come over for dinner.”
“Oh,” I say.
Fuck, I think.
Does it absolve him of everything? No.
But it makes a tiny difference knowing Holden came here rather than heading straight to the court last night.
My mom’s waiting for more of an answer. “He didn’t mention it?”
“Uh, no. He has a lot of other stuff to catch up on.”
She smiles. “I’m sure. So, should I plan on you for dinner? Planning to start cooking as soon as I finish this load.”
“Um, I’m not sure yet.”
“All right. I’ll just make extra.”
“Will Dad be home for dinner?” His job has always kept him busy. But I’ve barely seen him all summer.
“I’m not sure,” she says, dumping another clean load of laundry on the bed. “He had a busy day today.”
“Seems like all his days have been busy lately.”
“The firm is going through some changes.”
“Laying people offchanges?”
“No, no, nothing like that. More like they have so much business, your dad is handling the workload of three attorneys.”
“That’s good, I guess.”
My mom nods.
