My father blinked. “Are you speaking to me?”
“You better goddamn apologize,” I said, my voice rising. “Adeviant?He’s twice the man you are. You’re the deviant. You’re a heartless son of a bitch who kicked a seventeen-year girl out of the house because you only see what you want to see. If things don’t look right, if people don’t look right, you get rid of them. But I’m still here, Dad. I’m right here. I’mright…here.”
My father stared a moment, then rose off the couch. “Thisvisitis over.”
I shot to my feet. “What iswrongwith you?” I cried. “Why are you like this? What did I ever do to you?” I turned to my mother, crying now. “And you… Why are you just sitting there, Mom? Say something.”
She quailed, her eyes darting between my father and me.
“Say something,”I cried. Theo moved to stand behind me as I looked from one parent to the other.
“Tell me to leave again, Dad,” I said. “Go ahead. You’ll never see me again, I promise, but I want to hear you say it.”
My father held my eyes for a moment, and I stared back, unflinching.
Waiting.
Hoping…
Finally, he shook his head, muttered something under his breath and walked out.
I exhaled, staring at the empty space where he’d been.
“All right then,” I said. My head swiveled numbly to my mother. “Goodbye, Mom,” I said, my voice a whisper.
Calmly, with Theo’s arm around me, I walked out of my childhood home for the last time.
CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE
I made it as far as the front porch.
“Fuck this,” I muttered, turning back around to push open the front door. Kacey’s mother gave a little cry as I stormed past her down the last part of the house I saw Kacey’s bastard of a father walk down. I spied him in a chair in what looked like a den. I shoved the door open so hard, it slammed against the wall and bounced back.
Kacey’s father sprang out of his chair. “I’ll call the police.”
“I bet you would,” I said. My blood pounded in my ears and adrenaline coursed through my veins like liquid fire. “You would call the cops on your own daughter.”
Her father shook his head, as if I were telling him a story he’d heard a hundred times before. “Young man, get out of my house. I don’t have the time or inclination for this nonsense.”
“Nonsense,” I said. “Your only daughter’s happiness is nonsense to you.” I shook my head. “You have no idea what you’re doing. What you’re throwing away. And the truly insane part is sheloves you.She’s here. She’s trying and you don’t give a shit.”
Kacey’s father stared back, unflinching. “Are you done?”
“No, I’m not,” I said. “I’m going to marry her. She’ll have a wedding you won’t see. Someone else is going to walk her down the aisle because you’ve got your head shoved too far up your ass to do it yourself. We’re going to have a child you’ll never meet, and we’ll have a life you’ll never be a part of because youchosenot to.
“But fuck it. She doesn’t need you. She didn’t come here to beg for your shitty kind of love. I’ll take care of her. You don’t have to do a goddamn thing, not that you ever did. I’ll love her enough. I’ll love her enough she’ll never want for it. I’ll spend my entire life loving her and making her happy. And shewillbe happy. Maybe she has to live with the fact you’re a cold-blooded son of a bitch, but at least her conscience is clear. Can’t say the same for you.”
I spun around and nearly bumped into Kacey’s mother, her face stricken, her hands at her throat. I wanted to spit fire at her too, but she looked like she would fall over at the slightest push. I shook my head, disgusted at her silence, and strode out.
Kacey was waiting for me on the front stoop.
“I’ve never heard anyone tell my dad he has his head shoved up his ass before.”
I stopped short.
“The den window leads off the side of the house,” she said. “I heard everything. But you kept your promise and didn’t punch him in the face.”
