“This is insane, you realize that,” I say, but everyone’s staring at me like I’m the crazy one. Except Tristan, who’s giving me that grim expression of sympathy he saves for occasions like this.
“Yeah well, I could use the child support.” Mom looks at me, her whole demeanor still set, like this is something she thoughtthrough. “It’ll be a week, tops. Then he’ll go back. Maddi and Sky can stay with you, can’t they?”
“What, so you’re just going to stay here with him and his… I’m sorry, who the fuck are you?” I ask the other woman, who’s been watching this whole thing impassively, still scrolling on her phone and occasionally taking drags of a sickly-sweet scented vape.
“Krystal,” she says. “With a K.”
Awesome.
Dad steps in front of her like he’s being protective, which is so ridiculous I almost laugh out loud.
“She’s a friend of mine. I needed some help with gas money, because I left on the fly. That’s all.”
“And how long have you two known each other? If you’re close enough to be road-trip buddies?”
Krystal glances at Dad for a second, but I can immediately tell that she doesn’t care enough to lie for him. Instead, she shrugs as she looks back at me.
“A day or two.”
Perfect. Absolutely perfect. I have absolutely no doubt that he drove around town without two nickels to rub together, convinced this poor fucking sex worker to fund his getaway, and promised her nothing but cash and cocaine as soon as they arrived.
“Kris and Krystal. I love that for you. You’re friends with a lot of hookers, are you, Dad?”
“Hey!” Krystal’s gaze snaps up to meet mine, her eyes narrowing.
I immediately feel guilty again, because I actually have a lot of respect for hookers. But apparently today is the day I turn into the worst possible version of myself.
With a fucking phenomenal amount of effort, I try to release the tension running through me. My success is limited.
“And what if I call the cops right now?”
“You wouldn’t,” Mom says. “You wouldn’t risk the girls like that.”
“Me? I’m not the one putting them in harm’s way. Maybe social services should know who you think is fit to be around them.”
Dad steps forward again, and then tension shoots straight back up towards maximum.
“I’m their goddamn father. No court ever told me I couldn’t see them. I stayed away out of respect for your mother’s wishes—” I snort, because that’s a fucking lie, but whatever. “—but if I want to come back here I can, and the fact that you’ve turned into a goddamn narc since I left tells me maybe they do need their father’s influence around. Your great-great-granddaddy didn’t make the best moonshine around for half his life just so you could grow up to run to social services every time you get your tender fucking feelings hurt. I always knew you were a weak kid, but jeez. Grow some balls.”
That’s it. I move towards him again, but I’d forgotten that Tristan is still next to me, and he easily reaches out and snags me back.
“Okay, this has officially become unproductive. Cade, we’re leaving. We’re going to deal with this later in some sort of controlled setting when we’re not both technically on shift.”
I want to fight him, but at this point, the thought of not being here is also really fucking appealing. I soften just enough to let Tristan drag me toward the door.
He pauses before pushing me through, looking at Krystal and my mom.
“I know I’m a stranger here, and I’m not trying to butt in, but are you two sure you’re comfortable being here with him? Even if this one warrant really is bullshit, from everything I’ve heard, there are plenty of other times that weren’t. And there are a lotof ways he could have been abusing her that didn’t involve a physical beating.” He looks at my mom for a second. “It’s not too late to change your mind.” She shakes her head, still looking sure of herself, so Tristan shifts his gaze to Krystal. “If you want a ride, we can take you to a bus station now and get you the fare back to Arkansas. Not a problem.”
Krystal shrugs, still perfecting her air of nonchalance.
“I’m fine.”
“Suit yourself. Offer’s still on the table if you rethink it later. Right, kid. We’re leaving.”
I open my mouth, because I feel like I should be objecting, although I’m not sure why.
“Is that the sound of our tones? Shit, we gotta go.”
