“Hey there, Mags,” I said with a smile on my face.
But she didn’t return the smile. “What are you doing here?”
Mom scoffed. “Maggie, honey, is that any way to greet your sister?”
She folded her arms across her chest. “What do you want?”
I furrowed my brow as I stepped inside. “Is everything okay?”
All she did was stare me down, though. And that’s when it clicked.
Someone’s already called her.
“Guys, we need to talk,” I said as I set down my suitcase.
“No, we don’t,” Maggie said curtly.
I’m going to kill JoJo myself.“Could we all go sit in the kitchen?”
Dad held out his arm. “Sure, yeah. Honey, could you get us some drinks?”
“On it!” Mom chimed in.
I didn’t like the way my sister was staring at me. Her eyes seemed dead, and cold. Her demeanor was hardened and removed. I tossed her an inquisitive look before we all made our way into the kitchen and sat down, except for Mags, of course.
She stood in the corner, perched like a hound dog.
“We are so glad you decided to come home,” Mom said as she handed me some sweet tea.
Dad placed his hand over mine. “We’ve got lots of fun plans for the 4th, including going to that park you love so much to watch fireworks.”
I sighed. “That sounds wonderful, but we really need to talk.”
“About?” Maggie asked flatly.
I gazed into her eyes. “I know what happened the night of the accident.”
A silence came down over the kitchen, like I had just admitted to knowing who killed J.F.K. Mom and Dad looked at each other while Maggie’s faced burned with red, though I wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed or upset.
“Sweetheart,” Dad said as he squeezed my hand, “it isn’t that we tried to keep things from you. We just--.”
I peeked over at him. “Hid the fact that someone tried to rape Maggie, so she killed him?”
Mom balked. “What in the world are you talking about?”
Dad furrowed his brow. “Maggie was raped?”
I blinked. “Wait, what are you guys talking about?”
And that’s when Mags cleared her throat. “They’re talking about the night JoJo beat me to a bloody pulp because I couldn’t sell off all the crack he was forcing me to peddle.”
“Maggie,” Mom hissed.
“No, no, it’s fine,” she said as she pushed off the kitchen counter, “if Becks wants to storm into the house acting like she knows everything, she should at least hear our side of the story, right?”
I furrowed my brow. “I don’t believe you.”
Maggie scoffed. “Why? Because JoJo said so?”
