I went for it. “Dad, there’s something that I’m looking for.”
He shot me an amused smirk. “There aren’t any hidden jewels, if that’s what you’re asking.”
How long had he been hanging around the room? Hmmm. “No, it’s about Lucky Strike. He says you stole something from him. I need to get it from you. It’s not yours.”
My father’s eyes narrowed. “Just what exactly do you think I have?”
“Don’t make me say it.”
He pressed both hands flat on the table. Zelda glanced over with worry. “We don’t need a scene,” she warned.
“I’m not the one who looks menacing,” I replied.
“Whatever Lucky said, you shouldn’t believe him.”
As I spoke to my father, I felt myself draining more and more, as if he was sucking more energy from me than I had to give.
But his words about Lucky ticked me off. “Oh? I shouldn’t believe Lucky, should I? I know all about how you used him for the team. How you kept promising to send him to the other side but never did. I know all about that, Dad. Your secret is no longer hidden.”
His face crumpled in sorrow. “I did what was best for the team—for you, Blissful. I always did everything for you.”
“Then do this for me now,” I shot back. “Give me what I’m looking for. It isn’t fair that you stole it from him. You know that. Return what’s been taken.”
He leaned forward so far his nose nearly touched mine. “I. Will. Not.”
“Then I have no choice but to take you in.”
Now, I was totally bluffing. I didn’t have a way to keep him, and Lucky wasn’t showing to help.
I rose on weak legs and pitched forward. Golly, had Zelda’s séance taken a toll on me. I don’t remember ever feeling so horrible in my life.
Except for that one time I had the flu, that was. I thought I was gonna die.
Roan rose and grabbed my arms, steadying me. I yanked a makeup compact from my back pocket (you never knew when you’d need to powder your nose) and opened it.
“Give it back or else I’ll trap you in this,” I insisted.
My father jerked back and threw out his hand. “You would betray me for him? For Lucky Strike?”
Wow, what a way to guilt me. “I’m only doing what’s right. I’m trying to help someone who wasn’t helped much in the afterlife. It’s the right thing to do.”
Dad shook his head. “You don’t know everything. You think you do, but you don’t.”
Why in the world hadn’t I gotten from Lucky a way to contact him? Why did I think that my father would go easily with me? What was I thinking at all?
To be honest, I hadn’t been. Deep down, I’d hoped that when I asked my father for the soul, being so touched to see me, he would gently pass it over as if he were handing me a baby to hold.
Boy, had I been wrong. I’d been crazy wrong.
Now I was at Zelda’s séance surrounded by a bunch of folks who couldn’t see ghosts. I was tired, spent, and my father was proving to be ornerier than an old billy goat—which I guess were ornery. People always seemed to say that they were.
My father lifted his hands, and papers flew around the room, sailing every which way. Lemon jumped up and ran to Traylor, screaming at him to save her.
Tex up and waddled from the room faster than I could blink.
Luis started making the sign of the cross while Zelda stared wide-eyed at the melee.
Roan threw out his hand. “Stop this at once, or I’ll send you to the dark place.”
