Her father looked up. “Steaks for dinner,” he said, happily.
Lucy took a seat opposite her father at the patio table. “There’s something I have to tell you guys.”
“How was work?” her mother asked, lifting the lid of the grill to inspect the meat.
“Mom, can you come sit with us?” Lucy asked.
Her father set his bottle down. “What’s wrong?” His senses had been sharpened by the accident, able to cut through minutiae like a blade. “Tell me.”
“Lucy?” Her mother joined them, looking worried.
“It’s about the accident,” Lucy began.
Both her parents’ faces went dark. The accident was a topic they avoided. “What about it?”
“Jep wasn’t the one driving.”
“What?” Her mother shook her head, as if Lucy was speaking a language she did not understand.
But her father did. “Nonsense. Of course he drove. He drank, and then he drove.”
“No, Dad. He didn’t.”
“Then who did?” her mother asked. And then it dawned on her what Lucy was trying to say. “Not Ella.”
“Yes, Mom. Ella. I went to see her today.” She looked between her parents. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I had to ask her alone.”
“No!” Her father pounded the patio table with his fist. “The police report says so. The lawyers say so.” He stood up. “Even Jep Parsons said he did.”
In the face of her father’s rage, Lucy swallowed. She had to tell the truth. “Did Ella say he did?”
“Honey, your sister has a traumatic brain injury. Whatever she said to you today, she’s mistaken. Or confused.”
Lucy shook her head. “She’s not confused, Mom. She remembers that night and she’s able to talk now.”
“Then why hasn’t she told us?” her father asked.
“It never occurred to her to tell us who was driving because she thought we already knew.” Lucy turned to her mother. “That’s why she keeps saying she’s sorry. She’s sorry because she’s the one who crashed the car.”
Her parents went still.
“I went to Parsons’s Garage and looked at the Mustang,” Lucy admitted.
“You did what?” her father said.
“I needed to see it for myself. And I found this, on the floor of the car.” Lucy reached into her pocket and handed her mother Ella’s broken gold bracelet.
“Her graduation bracelet.”
“It was under the steering wheel. On the driver’s-side floor.” Lucy looked between her parents. “She’ll tell you herself, when you see her tomorrow.”
“Only because she’s trying to protect that boyfriend!”
“No, Dad. He’s been the one protecting her. Jep knew if she was given a DUI she’d have a record. He didn’t want her to lose her scholarship or her spot at Tufts. Don’t you see?”
Her father sat down.
“This can’t be true.” Lucy’s mother pressed the bracelet to her heart. “How can this be true?”
“I’m sorry,” Lucy told them. She sat beside her father, wrungout by the words. “I didn’t want to worry you with this until I was sure. You have to call off the lawsuit. It’s not right.”
“What is right anymore?” Lucy’s father cradled his hands in his head.
The truth was out, but somehow it felt worse. The three of them sat at the table, the acrid smoke of the grill filling the silence between them.
