Page 144 of Again, In Autumn

“Because I could see you when I snuck into Fran’s room at night.”

I lean my head back. “So, you knew about us? The whole time?”

“At first I knew he had a thing for you.” David struggles to get comfortable on this surface. He finally stretches his legs out like a rag doll. “He’d stare at you. You’d come up in conversation all the time. He’d ask me questions about you.”

“He had the look,” I mutter into my arms. “I always wondered how you guys didn’t see that look.”

“I did see it,” he says. “It was uncomfortable to watch. Plus, I’m a veteran big brother. I’m observant. I noticed early that Francesca didn’t look out for you, so I figured someone had to. But I decided Adam was a nice guy.”

“He was. He is. He’s really the best.”

“And you two clearly didn’t want anyone to know that you were making out in the treehouse, so I kept my mouth shut.” David asks carefully, “Where is he?”

I swallow a lump in my throat. “On his way to Chicago.”

“Why?”

“Because I…I chose my dad. Again.”

David sighs. “You know why you did that right?” When I give him a questioning look, he explains, “I’ve been through a lot of therapy in the last year. I can psychoanalyze the hell out of you.”

“Please. Be my guest.” I wipe a fallen tear.

“Vee, you’d rather hold on to someone you think should love you than let yourself be loved by someone not bound by DNA. I get it.” He glances off, looking at the house. “Fran does it, too. That why we both work for him. She wants her dad to love her because he’s supposed to. Earlier in our relationship, she would have picked him over me, too.”

I say, “Well, if your parents don’t love you, how can you trust that someone else will?”

“You have to let them try.”

“I can’t do that if Adam’s not here.”

“Maybe he’ll turn around and come back,” David suggests. “He’ll hang a uey in the middle of the highway, honk at everyone flipping him off, eventually get pulled over and explain that he’s got to come back for the girl he loves, resulting in a police escort right to your door.”

I laugh, “You watch too many romantic comedies.”

“I love romantic movies, they’re just happy. No one’s getting shot or having to save the president.”

“Well, I doubt my story will go in that direction,” I say.

After a beat, David replies, “We have to value the people who put work into a relationship. Vee, your dad, he’s my boss and I’m terrified of the man, but he doesn’t put in the work. I know why Adam was pissed off.”

“I do too, but am I just supposed to never see my dad again?”

He blinks. “If the alternative is not making your own life choices, then…yeah. I think so.” He lets me think about this quietly before saying, “Fran told me what you said to her. She’s in the room, angry now at both of us.”

“What did you do?”

The image of Francesca’s angry, reddened face flies into my mind.

“Sided with you,” he says. “I told her in therapy that I was done defending her actions when they were wrong. We all need to be held accountable. She’s been walking all over you for as long as I’ve known her and that’s not fair.”

I groan, “I barely even know what I said to her.”

“You told her the truth. She heard it. She doesn’t like it, but she heard it.” He sighs. “It’s going to take her some time to come to terms with her behavior.” He shifts forward, meeting my eyeline. “The point is, Vee, you don’t have to put up with cruelty or selfishness in a relationship just because that person is family. We don’t get a free pass to treat blood relatives like crap. What would you say to a friend in your exact situation?”

“That your dad’s a dick.”

He nods, maybe a little surprised that I changed the focus from Francesca back to my dad, but the truth lies in the knowledge that she’s not going anywhere. Francesca won’t walk out on me. She’ll be angry, silent for a while, but she’s not dangling her presence in front of me until I do her bidding.

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