Page 41 of Daddies' Little Troublemaker

I don’t want that, either.

So I remain in my room long past I hear them both leave in the morning. I take a long, lazy shower, stretching my sore muscles. Yesterday’s poolside shenanigans were a nice workout. Everything was just amazing. I never thought I’d be the kind of person who would get to have incredible sex like that. I don’t know why, I just assumed everything would be mundane and boring because it always had been. I thought that amazing sex was reserved for romance novels and super-fake porn.

But no…I’ve now had two incredible experiences with two different men.

I was never the problem. Troy and my previous partners were the problem.

When I get out of the shower, I find a text from my mom.

Come over for family brunch, darling.

Shit. She only calls me “darling” when she wants something. And I haven’t been invited to family brunch since Troy and I got engaged. Thinking back, I bet it was because Chloe and Troy were already hooking up.

Even though I should ignore the text and pretend I didn’t see it in time, I text back. Will Troy be there?

She calls me instead of texting. This is why I shouldn’t have responded.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Darling. Come to brunch. Troy won’t be here this time, but he’ll be at other family gatherings because he’s family, and this is a first step to repairing this squabble.”

Squabble? She thinks my sister sleeping with my fiancé is a squabble?

“Be here in an hour,” she says. “I know you don’t have anything going on.”

“I don’t?—”

She hangs up.

“I don’t have a car,” I whisper. And I really need to save money so I can get out of my dad’s house. I already used the allowance I’m giving myself to meet up with Sawyer and Maya.

Sighing, I go to the garage. Dad’s car is in here. He told me I could use it while he’s gone, but it’s a stick shift and I don’t know how to drive it. On the far wall, I find two bikes. One was supposed to be mine as a teenager—a gift from my dad that I never used because I was a dick. I dust it off, check that the tires are functional, and roll it back and forth over the garage floor.

My helmet, still new in the box, is in here as well. I can’t believe Dad didn’t toss these things, but I’m grateful they’re here.

An hour later, I’m rolling up to Mom and Harold’s house. I rest the bike and my helmet against the inner railing of the porch. I knock on the door because, well, I haven’t felt comfortable just walking in since I lived here. I don’t think I even have a key anymore—it hasn’t been on my keychain in years.

Maybe Troy took it.

No, that’s not the right attitude. No more snark, no more bitterness. I’m going in and this will be fine-just-fine.

Harold opens the door, and I’m faced with my stepdad. He has finally lost his fight with his thinning, dark brown hair and buzzed it all off, but he’s kept his severely bushy beard. I’d never tell him this, but if he swapped out the pastel polos Mom buys for him with a leather jacket, he’d fit right in with a motorcycle club.

“Evelyn, hi, come on in,” he says, stepping aside to make room.

“Hi, Harold.” I give him an awkward side hug. He’s sort of an outsider to the Mom-and-Chloe club, like me. Unlike me, he seems to have always accepted that role and it doesn’t seem to faze him.

“Chloe and Francesca are setting the table,” he says, “if you want to join them.”

Not really, but I will. “Thanks.”

I accept a superficial hug from Mom and keep my distance from Chloe, saying hello from across the room so that neither of us feels pressured to touch each other. Two months ago at a family gathering, she would’ve been racing toward me and throwing her arms around my shoulders, asking me for the latest news on Troy’s and my wedding planning.

Was her friendship caused by guilt, or was she looking for intel on how to better prevent me from finding out that she and Troy were together? I’ll never know.

Once we sit down at the table, talk immediately turns to Chloe and Troy’s wedding.

I should’ve guessed this would be the main topic of conversation. I stare at my plate, trying not to frown at the eggs, fruit, sausage, and cranberry muffin, none of which I feel like eating at the moment.

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