“How did Rhea come about renting your room?” Amber asks, cutting the tension with a hot knife.
“My younger sister is Sunday,” I tell her.
“Who?” Amber raises an eyebrow at me, and it is very clear that Rhea either doesn’t tell them anything or her mother just doesn’t care to remember.Both rub me the wrong way.
“One of the girls that Rhea plays rugby with…” I see now why Rhea doesn’t talk about her mother very much; she’s squirrely and rude.
“Oh yes, yes. The little blonde one!” Gabe snaps as he remembers. “She’s a sweetheart.”So it’s not Rhea’s fault you don’t know.
“That would be her.” I nod and cross my arms over my chest, itching for Rhea to return and save me from this conversation.
“Sorry about that.” Rhea appears in the kitchen doorway like my thoughts summoned her. Her mood has shifted; she’s back to beingtense, but she’s doing a good job of hiding it to keep the peace. I’d question it, but this is the woman who would eat tomatoes so she didn’t hurt Boone’s feelings. “Reid is going to take his dinner in his room. I’m starving. Is it ready?” she asks, pushing to her tippy-toes to look over the group of us.
Daisy’s screams pierce through the house, and my whole body tenses.
“Daisy?” I call out, aiming to move toward the source.
“I’m alright…” Her voice is shaky.
“I found Lady Gaga!” Toby screams from the living room, and Rhea starts to laugh awkwardly.
“Who is Lady Gaga?” I look around as Toby runs past Amber.
“Uh, that,” Rhea snorts as Toby thrusts a massive snake into the air as high as he can.
“Touch it,” Toby demands.
“No, thank you,” I say.
“Chicken,” he teases.There’s a first for everything, and today might be the day I hit a little kid.
“You'd better touch the snake,” Rhea says, stifling more laughter.
“Ireallydon’t want to touch the snake.” It’s taking everything in me not to step back from it as it wiggles between the kid's fingers.
“Touch. It.”
“Fine.” I reach out and pet the snake with one finger.
Iwait in the truck as Brighton drops Daisy off at Riona’s, staring at the container of pasta in my lap. Dinner went as well as expected. Reid stayed in his room the entire time Brighton was there, but Daisy had fun with the kids while I fielded all the embarrassing questions about our situation.
He took every single jab from my mother without flinching.
That house is like a cage. I glazed over through the entire dinner, periodically remembering that there were other people in the room when Shana made Toby cry, or Mom tried to get under Remi’s skin. I washed the dishes quietly, taking the chance to try to catch my breath after being interrogated. Brighton tried to help, but Gabe whisked him away to go through old albums, all while I convinced him that I was fine.
But his concerned expression is burned into my brain, and I just hope he doesn’t ask me questions I’m not ready to answer. It was probably stupid to bring him there, to introduce him to that. I can’t even imagine how I must look to him after all of that. I curl my fingers around the container, trying not to cry from the overwhelming wave that consumes me.
I turn my gaze on him, standing in the doorway with his arms crossed as Riona talks to him, her eyes flickering to me periodically. Brighton nods, backing away as she shuts the door, and I refocus my gaze on my lap as he climbs into the driver's seat.
“Sorry.”
I laugh a little, and he scowls at me. “For what?” he asks.
“The wait,” he says.
“Brighton, you just sat through what some might describe as an FBI torture technique seminar…” I tease, and it brings a small smirk to his lips. “Sitting in the car for two minutes doesn’t bother me.”
“Are you sure?” he asks, the truck still in park.
