Actually, I would have liked that. He scowled at me, accusingly.
“You’re intoxicated? At your sister’s wedding, of all places?”
I laughed and stumbled.
“I’m not intoxicated, I’m drunk. Maybe you don’t know there’s a difference, but there is.”
“Jesus, Harper. Imagine if someone saw you like that. Your father…”
“Oooooh, my father! If I say his name in front of the mirror three times, will he appear like the boogeyman? Bloody Nolan, Bloody Nolan…”
“Behave, there are people watching us.”
The wordsFuck youdanced on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them, and they stung going down.
“I used to like you. I really did. I thought you were a sweetie. But you’ve changed…”
“I haven’t. I’m still the same guy.” He ran his hand through his hair and looked around at the garden before settling his eyes on me again. “But I see things differently now. I’m more realistic. And if you weren’t so proud and hardheaded, you’d get that. You’d realize that…”
That flipped a switch in me.
“Proud? How…how can you…?”
Those words were barely audible when I saw my father striding toward us. I had managed to duck him all day, and there was a part of me—an immature part, I admit—that thought I could make it out without seeing him. My father was the type of man who managed to make everyone and everything around him shrink, to the point that even the air around him seemed to grow thinner.
“Harper.” His voice was thundering. “Do you think I have the time and patience for these stupid games? To have you here acting like a spoiled child? You’ve been ignoring my calls. Don’t do it again.”
“I was busy,” I murmured.
“Busy with what? Wasting your time on nonsense?” He shook his head and a few dark hairs fell over his forehead. He pushed themaside and glared at me. His eyes were bottomless black pits. For a moment, I thought he was vacillating, but no—my father was incapable of that. He didn’t know what self-doubt was. He was cold, distant, a rock covered in jagged edges. He took a card from his pocket and handed it to me. “Here.”
I couldn’t move at first. I had to squint when I grabbed the card to see the tiny shiny letters that seemed to float over the paper.
“What’s this?”
“Call that number. It’s a real estate agent who’s done work for us. Set up a meeting with him and give him whatever he wants. Keys, documents, whatever he needs to sell the house and the bookstore ASAP. He’ll make it a priority.”
The alcohol, which had made everything feel dull before, now evaporated through my pores like a cold sweat. My heart sped up as I found the courage to look him in the eyes.
“I haven’t decided yet. On that, or on anything else…Dad.” This last word tasted bitter on my lips. “I need to take my time and think about it.”
“There’s nothing to think about. You aren’t keeping that woman’s house, let alone the bookstore.”
“That womanwas my grandmother.”
“That womanmade the Antichrist look charming.”
Rage like hot lava flowed through my veins. He was talking about the person I’d loved most in the world. The person whose absence made my soul ache inconsolably. I clenched my fists.
“You have no right to talk about her that way. You don’t…”
“Me?” He shouted me down. “That woman’s the one who filled your head with all those stupid ideas. I gave in when you decided to waste your life studying literature…”
“That wasn’t a waste. Mom did the same thing…”
Sweat pearled on his forehead as he stepped even closer to me.
“How dare you mention your mother?”
