A movement outside catches my eye. The people in the apartment across the street have their curtains open and lights on. So do we. I wonder if they saw what we just did, if they notice us verging on an argument. “So that’s the only reason?” I ask, returning my attention to her.
“No.”
My throat gets dry. She’s obviously circumventing the truth, hiding something. “You promised me honesty, Halston.”
She sucks in a breath and spits it out. “Rich will be at the house. His parents too.”
I press my lips into a line. Rich was right, and I must’ve looked like a complete ass yesterday, peacocking around like I knew what was what. “Were you going to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
She frowns. “When I was ready. You don’t corner the market on complicated.”
“I know, so I’m asking you to explain.”
She rubs the tip of her nose. A light goes off in the apartment across the street. “He still thinks Rich and I are a couple,” she says. “Everyone does. His parents, our colleagues. Except Benny. She knows.”
My face warms. A couple. With Rich. I flex my hands in and out of fists. “Why?”
“It’s a hard time of year for Dad. He’s under a lot of pressure with it being the end of the last quarter, and dealing with the anniversary of Mom’s death—”
“How is that different from every other year?”
“It’s not, but . . .” She crosses her legs more tightly. “I mean it is, because it’s ten years now. That’s big.”
“I get that, I do. But there’ll always be something. At some point, you have to stop giving your dad the excuse to run your life.”
“I tried. I told him I was ending it with Rich and stopping the meds, but it’s too much right now. I could see how stressed he was. It could only be one or the other, and I knew I could lie to him about Rich, but not about my treatment.”
She’s not hearing me. I have to wonder if she’s making excuses so she doesn’t have to cut off her dad’s power over her. Either she’s afraid of him, or she’s gotten so used to it, she doesn’t really want the freedom she says she does. “It’s not healthy, Hals. You’ve got to come clean with him. You don’t owe him your life because of a mistake you made years ago.”
“I’m not going to kick him when he’s down. When I’m medicated and being looked after, he doesn’t worry about me as much. I couldn’t take both those things out of the equation and expect him to be okay with that.”
“He doesn’t have to be okay with it. You’re a grown woman.”
“He’s my dad.” She frowns. “I’m only talking about a few weeks. I’ll tell him after December. Why does it have to be now?”
“Because I get the feeling you’ve been making excuses for him for a while. Is that why you never broke up with Rich?”
Her posture slumps a little. “It’s not that black and white.”
That answer’s as good as yes. Itisthe reason. She was willing to stay with Rich to make her dad happy. Would she go back to him for that reason? Her dad introduced them after all. “Is that why you got together with him in the first place? For your dad?”
“Would it make you feel better if I did?”
People stay in relationships for all kinds of reasons that have nothing to do with love—including not believing they deserve better. “It makes me think if push comes to shove, you’d put your dad before yourself. And that could be bad for us.”
Her expression softens. “You still think I might go back to Rich.”
“If your dad’s been controlling you this long, what happens if he doesn’t accept your breakup?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know how else to tell you it’s over.”
“Does Rich know that?”
“God, Finn, you have to understand—it means absolutely nothing. It’s just a show for my dad. Rich wants me back, but that’s his issue.”
