There’s a pause.
“We love the both of you... I’ll try to get your mother there.”
Good luck with that, I think.
“I love you.”
My hand rubs down my face. “I love you, too, Dad. Bye.”
I hang up and pass Elena’s phone back to her. Her smile is wide and she claps slowly. “Well, you sure told them!”
Anger, disappointment, and annoyance clashes inside of me. “I shouldn’t have to explain why I don’t want to stay married to an abusive husband. Going against their beliefs is one thing, but Beau has been going over there every day, trying to make our parents believe me and him can overcome it. I’m getting treated as if I’m blowing all of this out of proportion.”
Elena sits up straighter, then blinks rapidly as if she’s trying to process what she’s hearing. “Are you serious?”
“Beau plays the part of the victim so well I could vomit.”
“He needs to get over it and move on with his life.” She cringes. “God help the next woman he ends up with.”
A shiver travels through my body, and I glance at the goose bumps on my arms. “No one should go through what I had to go through. I don’t want it to ruin our day. Did you want to go shopping now?” I ask as Twitch passes us, going into the kitchen.
“I’m ready,” Elena replies.
I walk over to see Twitch and find him in the pantry. I can hear him unwrapping something. He’s hunched over, stuffing something in his mouth. I peer around him. He’s holding a big box with anchovies written on the side. I step back, not wanting to interrupt his feast, but he stands straight and slowly, then turns around while chewing, and it takes everything in me not to laugh. He has chocolate on the side of his face near his lip.
He swallows his food. “Don’t tell anyone where my stash is, since you chucked out my last box!”
My mouth gapes open. “I knew something was wrong with you that day. You should have told me. I chucked everything that was out of date.”
“What wasin the boxwas perfectly fine.”
Elena walks in, and her eyes bulge. “YOU better share that, or I’ll tell everyone you’ve been holding out on us.”
His gaze sharpens, and he shakes his head at her, then glances at me. “Your sister’s not being very nice, making threats like that.”
“You’re not very nice!” Elena says to him. “Do you know where Rage is? We want to go shopping.”
“He’ll be getting ready for tonight. I’ll take you.” He wraps up the top of his precious chocolate and puts it back in the cardboard box marked as anchovies. He pulls out the rice and puts the box at the back of the shelf. He places the rice in front of it.
I bite my bottom lip as I smother a laugh at the effort he is going through to hide chocolate from everyone.
“I’ll meet you two at the truck.” He shoots a wary glance at Elena.
Elena and I go to our rooms.
I pull out my bag and unzip the front section. As I pull out the notes, I gasp. This is way too much. I take one hundred dollars out of it and place the rest back, making a mental note to give it back to him. I open the top of the bag, take out my wallet, and place the money inside it. I get up and close the door behind me. I hurry along in case they are waiting for me.
When I open the back door, there’s no sign of Elena, so I take a seat in the truck and close the door.
“If you were so worried about your chocolate, why don’t you store it in your room or somewhere private?”
When Twitch glances over his shoulder from the front seat, he’s smirking at me. “Because I have no self-control.”
“So you sneak into the cupboard and hope not to get caught?”
His hand goes to his chin. “I guess I do, but did you know anchovies are one of the most hated foods in America?”
“No, I did not know that.”
