"I need to tell you something… About some messages mom sent me right before she vanished." I spent the next few minutes giving him a recap of what occurred.
By the time I'm done, we're halfway to the condo. Finn has fallen silent, but when I finish, he shakes his head and says, "What the hell is going on? And how the hell does Mom expect you just to abandon Maddy? Because if you stop dating her, the society can go after her again." When I make no effort to respond, he glances at me while flipping on the blinker and slowing down the car. "Right?"
I rub my hand across my forehead and then sigh. "I feel like I can't date her anymore… Although the idea of ending our fake relationship makes my chest feel stupidly tight. How messed up is that? My first real broken heart is from a fake relationship. I'm pathetic."
"You're not pathetic. And you're not going to stop dating Maddy." He turns onto a road where the lights from thebuildings are dimmer and less frequent. "We'll have to figure something out."
"I think I already did." The pressure in my chest is suffocating. "You're going to have to do it."
He flicks a confuddled glance at me. "Do what?"
"Date her." It's agonizing to utter those two words.
He taps on the brake for no damn reason, causing us to both lurch forward in our seat. "What? Stop being weird." He presses on the gas again.
"I'm not being weird. I'm being realistic." I slump back in the seat. "With what mom said, and right before she went missing, we have to take this seriously."
The muscle in his jaw spasms as he grips the wheel. "This is so messed up. Mom goes missing… Maddy gets taken… And now she might be in danger." He blows out a breath. "What're we going to tell Lily about Mom?"
More crushing pressure fills my chest. "As much as I wish we could keep her in the dark, it'll be all over the news, so we'll have to tell her the truth.
"Yeah, you're right." He briefly pauses. "Do you think she's okay?"
"Mom?" I check, and he nods. "I honestly don't know."
He swallows hard. "What if… What if she did the same thing she did when we were ten? What if she just… took off."
"That's crossed my mind," I admit aloud.
I hate that my thoughts go to that place where I'm contemplating whether my mom did this intentionally, like she did when Finn and I were ten. Mom had been gone for days, but that wasn't entirely out of the ordinary for her. Our nanny mostly took care of us, and so we didn't notice her absence too much. But eventually, it became apparent when days turned into weeks. Things became even weirder when my father requested a family meeting, something he'd never done before.
"Sit down," he instructed as Lily, Finn, and I entered the library.
We were all afraid of him, and we quickly obeyed, taking a seat on the sofa in the middle of the room. He didn't sit down, instead staring out the window at the frost-kissed land surrounding the house. He was wearing a suit—he always was, even when he wasn't going to work.
"I've received some unpleasant news," he finally said, turning around and facing us. He stood with his hands behind his back, and his expression was cold. "Your mother has left us."
"What?" Lily whispered confusedly. "Where did she go? To the store?"
My father rolled his eyes. "Don't be dense, Lily. She's left us. She doesn't want to be your mother anymore."
"What?" Lily's eyes watered over with tears.
She was sitting between Finn and me, and I held onto her hand. Finn took her other hand.
"It's going to be okay," I told Lily quietly, my stomach twisting in knots.
Was it going to be okay?
My mother left us.
Left us withhim.
She was never going to win Mother of the Year, but she was better than our father.
My father laughed hollowly. "Keep telling yourself that, River. You and I both know that's a lie. Lily needs a mother." He pointed at Lily. "Because I sure as hell don't want to take care of her."
Finn, who smarted off more than me, lifted his chin. "Good thing we have Bethany then."
