“I had no choice, Freya! It was either that or remortgage the house, and that was before my accident at work.” Dad tries once more to make my mom see reason.
A slamming sound filters from the kitchen right before Mom volleys back, “What about Shelby? You could’ve sold her! Or is she so damn precious that you chose to deceive your wife?”
Silence.
“No,” Mom bites out. “I don’t want your hugs right now. I’m mad as hell. Who gave you the right to make financial decisions without consulting me?”
Mom makes a very good point, and Dad knows it. I don’t need to be a fly on the wall to picture his face—one of regret and anguish. Dad worships the ground Mom walks on, although I’ve never heard either of them as distressed as they are in this moment.
Dropping my head between my shoulders, I exhale a deep breath, praying Blake will stay napping a while longer and grant me some time to gather my thoughts.
Emmett always predicted that a war would ensue when news of our involvement eventually broke. I just wish that he’d been up front about the money.
“The only person to blame is Emmett. He basically paid for access to our daughter.”
I shake my head to no one. Dad’s got it all wrong if that’s what he thinks about his best friend. Emmett gave that money with all the right intentions.
Mom clears her throat. “I don’t think that Maria gets a free pass in this. Billie tells me that she confronted her at breakfastwhile I was in line, right after she decided to tell only you about what she’d witnessed between Emmett and Billie.”
“Freya—”
“No, Scott!” Mom interjects. “You should’ve spoken to me, and so should Maria. She capitalized on my absence because she knew that you would lose your shit and hunt down Emmett. Maria manipulated everyone for her own ends, and I’ve seen a side to my friend that I never knew existed. Maybe that’s why her marriage failed—because if she was as calculating in the past as I’ve witnessed today, then I don’t think that I’d want to remain married to her either.”
More silence falls between the two of them, eventually broken by the sound of the doorbell.
Moments later, the kitchen door opens, and Dad half stalks, half hobbles into the hallway, unable to see me since the top of the staircase sits directly behind him.
I draw a deep breath into my lungs, convinced that this day cannot get any worse, regardless of whoever is standing on our porch.
Enraged, Dad practically rips the door from its hinges, ready to slam it back in the jamb when a familiar hand and sparkling Rolex comes into view.
“I need you to hear me out, Scott.” Emmett’s soft and calm voice washes over me in waves of emotion that pool in my eyes.
I can’t see Emmett, and he can’t see me, but I can see Dad clearly as he points a finger straight at my boyfriend, venom in his voice and body language.
“What part of my last warning did you fail to understand? Stay away from my family.”
A single tear runs to the edge of my chin before it cascades to the carpet. I shouldn’t have agreed to stay here tonight instead of at my apartment. Emmett and I need to talk, and there’s no way Dad will allow him within a hundred feet of me. After all, he can call the shots on who enters his property.
“Scott …” Emmett begins speaking but trails off into silence.
Dad’s fingers curl around the door, knuckles white, grip poised to slam it straight in Emmett’s face.
“If you don’t get off my property in the next thirty seconds, I’ll have Freya call the police to remove you from it.” Dad grinds out a promise that I know he’ll keep.
“You need to leave, Emmett,” Mom reiterates, walking down the hallway toward the door.
When she wraps her arms around her middle, Dad attempts to loop his free arm around her shoulders, but his efforts are immediately shrugged off.
“Freya, I?—”
Mom raises a hand, cutting Emmett off in his tracks. “I’m not ready to talk to you. Today has been a revelation and not a good one. I thought that we could trust you, and you violated that by going behind our backs with Billie.”
For a second, I think Emmett has walked away until he speaks again.
“I understand why you both feel like you do, but I need you to know that if things hadn’t gone the way that they did and if Maria had kept her nose out, then I would be sitting in your living room right about now, explaining that I’m in love with your daughter.”
Heart lurching, I jump to my feet, the movements attracting Mom’s attention, and she turns her head to look at me.
