“With Avery? Since when do you hang out with her? When I tried to get you to have dinner with us when we brought her to Granthorpe, you flat-out refused.”
“Our talking is recent.”
Sheri pipes in with high-pitched agitation that grates on me. “And the first thing you do is tell her your Sullivan grandfather is alive and take her to meet him? Why would you do that?”
“It came up.”
“Because you brought it up!” Sheri snaps.
My muscles contract hard enough to tear from the bone. I never tolerate it well when someone gets sharp with me, and from her, I’ll tolerate zero abuse.
Pulling the phone from my ear, I decide I’m done. My finger is a millimeter from the screen when my dad interjects, and I pause.
“Sher, calm down,” he says. “Shane, why did Avery reach out to you? Is something going on with her?”
I want to handle most of the drama before they get to the house, so I raise the phone again. “Casanova being on campus is the thing that’s going on with every girl right now.”
“Is that why she texted you? She’s scared?” Ethan asks.
“They’re all scared. And yeah, that’s the reason.”
“She can come home right now,” Sheri says. “The school said there will be no consequences for finishing the semester online. Let me talk to her.”
“Avery crashed. She’s in a guest room sound asleep.”
“We’ll wake her when we get there,” Sheri says primly.
“Not sure who you think you’re talking to right now,” I say in a low voice. “If you come with that attitude, you won’t get past the gate.”
“Ethan!” Sheri says.
“It’s all right, honey.” The placating tone he uses with her shifts to a neutral lawyer-mediator one when he addresses me again. “Shane, listen, I’m happy you’re talking to your sister.”
I roll my eyes. He’s been floating that description of Avery for the past three years. It’s never taken, and it’s never going to. No need to say so though, especially with the wicked stepmother on the line poised to get shrill. I catch my feet pacing a hole in the floor and stop next to a countertop.
“Let’s not turn this into something negative,” my dad continues, trying like hell to be the peacekeeper. “It’s a good thing.”
“You’re the one storming the gates in a panic. Seems like old times. I say she’s all right, but you won’t take my word for it.”
There’s a prolonged silence. He knows better than to come at me hard after I’ve tossed that down on the field of battle.
“You know this is complicated,” he says gently and then sighs. None of us wants to tread too deeply into the past. “Why take her there of all places?”
“I brought her because she was with me. I come to Back Bay almost every week.” I can predict how that will land, and as expected, there’s a stunned silence on their end.
Keeping my visits here on the down-low was very much the standard from the time I was about fourteen years old. I’d ride my bike to the park, and one of my grandfather’s guys would show up. They’d throw my bike in the back of a truck and deliver me to wherever he was. When I turned sixteen it got easier to see him because I could drive myself.
When it comes to my relationship with my dad and grandfather, the tables have definitely turned. I’ve been to my dad’s house once in the past year, at Christmas. The couple of other times I’ve seen him have been when he’s come to Granthorpe alone, and we had dinner out. That was before he sent Avery to GU and caused me to reinstate the cold war where I don’t see him at all. I’m sure hearing that I’m making weekly trips to Back Bay is tough for him.
“What if we don’t come by tonight?” he says finally. “Would you consider meeting us for lunch tomorrow? Or letting us take you both out to dinner? It would be great to have the four of us together.”
I wait for Sheri to erupt, but for once she’s quiet.
“We’ve gotta be on campus tomorrow. Avery’s got a class that’s important to her. Maybe we’ll come your way on the weekend.” A beat passes. “One of us will let you know.”
“That’ll be fine,” Dad says. I’m about to end the call when he adds, “Shane, thank you for seeing Avery and for looking after her. Hearing the news about what’s happening on campus has us worried about her being there alone. I know if she’s with you, she’s safe.”
There’s a sarcastic reply on the tip of my tongue, but I swallow it. I remind myself I’m putting the basement incident behind me for Avery’s sake. That means I have to put it behind all four of us because Avery loves her mom and Ethan.
