"It's ancient history," my father said, lolling the club back and forth.
Sweat rolled down my spine but my voice was steady. "You promised me you'd leave him alone. If I went to California, you wouldn't do anything to him."
"Call it an insurance policy." The sneering laugh that followed made me wish I'd broken more things on my way out here. "What's the point of all this?"
"The point is that I am finished with you and your manipulations."
He scoffed and turned back toward the grass. "Don't waste my time with these theatrics."
"Just tell me why you sent him the ring," I said.
"For the last time, we know nothing about a ring," my mother said. "Is this a real thing? You're sure you haven't dreamed it up?"
"Oh my god," I muttered to myself.
"What's going on here?"
Glancing away from my parents, I found my sister crossing the yard. She wore a blinding white sarong over a black bikiniand a straw hat that could shelter five people in a storm. A pair of children came up behind her, along with a middle-aged woman with several beach bags over her shoulders.
I really,reallydidn't want to see my sister today.
"Audrey's convinced herself that we stole a ring from her years ago," my father said, his words sopping up his disdain. "She's come here to scream at us about it."
A predator's grin spread across Cassidy's face as she stared at me. "Nanny, take the babies inside," she said. "We wouldn't want Aunt Audrey frightening them again."
She didn't look at her children or the woman whose name probably wasn't Nanny as they filed into the house. I'd met her kids a handful of times. They'd been too young to remember, still too young to remember much, but it was important for her to toss in theagain.
Holt's first birthday party was one of those times, because my mother had sworn Cassidy wanted me there but was too nervous to ask directly. I should've seen the lie for what it was but I'd missed it. Just as I'd missed all the food at this party triggering my bridge troll gut. Me hastily handing one-year-old Holt to his father so I could make it to the bathroom in time had turned into me beingunsafe around children. Yes, that was a real thing my family said.
The other time was my mother's sixty-fifth birthday party, a big country club affair with an unironicGone With the Windtheme. She'd allowed me to believe she was dying and she wanted her whole family together one last time. Except she hadn't been dying, not imminently. She'd needed a pacemaker. In the three years since that party—when I'd held little Cassen and he'd accidentally headbutted me, leaving him screaming and me with a split lip—she'd been fine.
"Someone lost a ring?" Cassidy asked, sweet venom in her voice.
My mother waved an exasperated hand in my direction. "Audrey believes we've robbed her of something. Honestly, as if I have the time for this kind of drama."
My sister crossed her arms over her bare torso, that eerie smile still stretched across her face. "Was it that cheap little flower ring? That purple one?"
All the blood left my body and in its place, ice water. "How would you know, Cassidy?"
"I did you a big favor and mailed it back to that grungy boyfriend of yours when you went off to college." She cupped a hand around her mouth like she was letting me in on a secret. "Made sure he knew it was dead, done, and over, if you know what I mean. That's what you wanted, wasn't it? That's why you left it at home when you moved out. Right?"
It was good that ice pumped through my veins now. That I was frozen from the inside out. Because I gave Cassidy nothing but stone-faced silence.
"Why are you asking about it now?" She shuffled her sandals against the patio decking. "It's been a million years."
I held up my hand, wiggled my fourth finger where the ring now sat. "Because I recently got it back."
Her eyes widened. She didn't have the decency to look guilty when caught in her lies and she didn't apologize. She gave me a dismissive flounce and strolled toward the house. With a hard chuckle, she said, "Good luck with that. You're gonna need it."
"Audrey, please tell me you haven't taken up with that boy again," my mother said. "We've done so much to correct for your mistakes and paper over the messes you made. We'renotgoing down that road again. And what will Brecken?—"
"I am not marrying Brecken," I snapped.
My father whirled around, the club leveled inches from my face. "You will do what we damn well tell you or?—"
I snatched the club away and flung it into the pool. "Or what? Explain it to me. I'd like to know. I have a job, a home, and my own money. I haven't taken a cent from you in years. So what is it you intend to do to me?"
"Watch your mouth, young lady." My father's face turned the color of an overripe tomato. "You'll show me respect when you're in my home," he seethed. "Or I'll toss you out of here on your ass. Good luck making it without me then."
