Page 79 of Wright Together

“I don’t need anyone’s help,” she said. “I’m going to the gym anyway.”

Then, she pushed past our dad and headed out of Boose. My dad smiled at both of us, tipped his cowboy hat in our direction, and then headed to his friends. As if saying,My work here is done. The fucking tornado that he was.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to rage.

I wanted to go back to ten minutes ago, before he showed up and detonated our afternoon.

Whitt put a gentle hand on the small of my back. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

I let him guide me out of the place. Bailey was in her run-down Civic, already pulling away by the time we made it outside. I sighed heavily. I should have known that she wasn’t talking about school for a reason. That she’d gotten a C in Trig when the girl could do math in her head in hersleep.

“Well, that’s my dad.”

“Yeah. What a riot he is.”

“Tell me about it.” I chewed on my lip. “I’m sure you want to know about the money.”

He shrugged. “Eve, you never have to tell me anything you’re not ready to talk about. He was trying to get a rise out of you, and he succeeded. I know people like that. My dad is…similar. He’s perhaps a bit slyer and more refined in his approach, but he’s just as duplicitous. The best thing to do is to never give them the reaction they want.”

“I know,” I said, throwing my arms up. “I know that, and still, he drives me fucking mad. And Bailey…she was supposed to buckle down. She made it easy to drive the stake home.”

“That has nothing to do with you, Eve. You’re doing your best by her.”

“It never feels like enough. And I just…hate him for making everything more difficult.” Tears came to my eyes, and I swiped them away. Frustration written into every inch of my face.

“You know what? No.”

“No?” I asked with a sniffle.

“No. We’re not ending today like this. He doesn’t get to win.”

“He already did.”

“No,” I repeated. “Let’s do something else. Something you loved to do when you were here.”

“Nothing. I wanted to leave.”

He grasped my hands. “There had to be something.”

“I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do. Something to erase this.”

“I could just do you,” I teased.

He tilted his head down to look at me. “Eve.”

“Fine,” I said, an idea blooming in my mind. “Are you sure?”

“Anything.”

“Just remember you said so.”

He just laughed and kissed me.

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