Then they heard her mumble something into their side.
“What?”
“I’m going to disappoint you,” she said. Her eyes were closed.
“What?” London asked again.
“I disappoint everyone.”
“Dahlia,” London whispered, nudging her shoulder.
What did that mean, she disappointed everyone?
But she was already asleep.
London frowned, running their fingers through her hair a moment more.
Carefully, so as not to wake her, they reached for the side table, fingers fumbling for the remote. But before they could turn off the movie and follow Dahlia into slumber, before they could further analyze what Dahlia had just said, their phone buzzed.
London, srsly, was our dad always an asshole? And we just didn’t know?? Because he was our dad?? I can’t stop thinking about this
London blinked.
Before they could think of what to say in response to this, Julie kept typing.
But our mom is so baller
And she wouldn’t be married to such an asshole, right?
But sometimes people in relationships do weird things
Ugh
London finally found the remote and shut off the damn TV. They stared at their phone, the only sound in the room now the loud thud of their heart.
They had been waiting for these texts, at least subconsciously. For weeks, Julie had sounded off, dodging relatively normal questions from London like,Hey Jules, how was Sunday supper?And Julie wasn’t one to dodge, wasn’t the kind of person to give vague, one-word answers. Julie Parker usually told a person everything that was on her mind, whether they wanted to know or not.
Yet suddenly, everything back in Nashville, according to her, wasfine. Fine finefine. London was starting to hate the word.
But now that Julie was finally sounding like herself again, London felt queasy.
Julie, they typed, gathering their courage,What’s going on? What did Dad do?
And then, of course, she was silent.
They extricated themself from Dahlia, rolling her gently toward the other side of the bed. She went willingly, making a little humming sound.
London turned onto their side, took a few deep breaths.
Julie?They tried again.
Ugh, sorry London
Ben gave me tequila; he will be punished tomorrow
Ignore me
Everything is fine here
