“Yeah?”
“Why didn’t you come watch?”
“Like you said. I’ve seen it before.”
Dad sighed at me.
I hated when he sighed at me.
“Don’t be like that.”
“Like what?”
“You’re being selfish.”
“Selfish?”
“Your sister wanted to spend time with you. You spend all day off with Sohrab, wandering around doing who knows what, and Laleh’s here all alone.”
I was pretty sure Babou had been home all day too, so Laleh had hardly been “all alone.”
“You really hurt Laleh’s feelings, storming off like that.”
I didn’t storm off.
I made a tactical withdrawal.
“You guys started without me. Again.”
“I didn’t want your sister to wander off.”
“Well, would that be so bad? For us to watch it without her?”
“She’s your sister, Darius.”
“This was supposed to be our thing. You and me. This was our time together. And she’s ruining it.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I might actually enjoy watching it with her?”
Stephen Kellner had never hit me. Not ever.
But this felt like it.
What was it about me that made it so easy for him to cast me aside?
Was it because I was such a target?
I swallowed and took a deep breath. I didn’t want my voice to squeak.
“Fine. Then watch it with her.”
“Don’t be upset, Darius.”
“I’m not upset, okay?”
Stephen Kellner didn’t like it when I got upset.
He didn’t like it when I had feelings.
