What should be a short ten minute walk to my house, it’s a long, quiet one with no music to distract me from my racing thoughts.
In all the years we’ve been best friends, Sofia and I have never had a fight. Sure, we’ve had minor disagreements over silly things, but never something like this, I guess that’s why it hurts so much.
My phone buzzes in my hand, and through a glaze of tears I find half a dozen missed calls from my father and I groan,the tears falling even harder.
I’m heading up the long driveway that leads to my front door when a voice catches my attention.
“Oh, hello. You must be Kaia.” I look up to find a man and a woman making their way to the unfamiliar car parked up in front of the house.
The man must be at least forty, thinning hair to the point he’s practically bald. He’s tall and stocky, but the beer belly is what draws my eye. If I had to guess, his wife, is around the same age. Tall, blonde. She’s gorgeous, and I have to wonder what he did to get a woman like her.
They look like such an odd pairing.
“That’s me,” I reply, slowing to a stop.
“I’m Barry Collins, the new sheriff here, and this is my wife, Susan,” he motions to the blonde woman beside him.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she offers.
I smile. “Likewise.”
“Your father was kind enough to invite us over for dinner tonight. It’s a shame we missed you, but I expect we’ll see you around,” Barry says.
“I’m sure you will. Have a nice evening.”
Once I’m inside, I sag against the front door, thankful the night is finally over. I pull up Fi’s number on my phone and tell her I got home safe.
I take off my shoes, rubbing my aching feet. All I want to do is peel this silly dress off my body, take a nice long bath before crawling into bed.
I’m three steps up the stairs when my father’s voice stops me.
“Kaia.”
My heart sinks.
Shit.
I follow the sound, finding him in the living room, his ankle resting over his knee as he sits on the sofa.
“Where have you been?” he asks without bothering to lift his eyes from the newspaper spread out in front of him.
“Out with Sofia.”
“Ah yes, Sofia. Is it correct she’s dating a member of the MC now?”
“Yeah.”
“Hm. Shame. That girl has so much wasted potential, then again with a dead mother and a drunk for a father it’s unsurprising. Trailer trash like that don’t change.”
I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from defending my best friend, because whatever I say won’t make a difference, nothing I say ever does.
“You just missed our new sheriff and his wife,” he continues. “Lovely people. I had hoped you would have joined us for dinner but apparently you had other plans.”
What the hell?Not once did he mention we were expecting guests tonight, but I suppose it gives him another excuse to berate me some more. “I didn’t know they were coming. How am I supposed to know if you don’t tell me?”
“Watch the attitude, Kaia,” he warns, still yet to look up from his newspaper.
I open my mouth to argue, but I decide against it, there’s no point.
