Page 24 of Kept in the Dark

Lauren’s eyes rounded. She quickly glanced at Hailey and then at David, anxious to see his reaction. Hailey couldn’t tell if Lauren already knew about the affair or if Hailey had just broken the news to her as well.

A vein on David’s temple pulsed. “Who told you that?”

“I’m surprised you’re not denying it. Usually, you’d rather die than admit to doing something wrong.”

“Who told you that, Hailey?” he said sharply. He stood up and placed his hands on the table as he leaned toward her. His breathing intensified as he worked to gather control.

She remained silent, grateful to finally feel in control.

This time, he slammed his fist on the table and Hailey and Lauren jumped. “Who told you that?! I want their name right now!”

So, her hunch was correct; the tyrant had a kryptonite.

Hailey smiled at Lauren and gently touched her hand from across the table, hoping she could read the apology in Hailey’s eyes. Taking a deep breath to steady her heart rate, she tossed her napkin on the table and walked out of the room.

Hailey wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how she found out about his skeleton in the closet. She’d keep her little secret just to spite him.

Hailey was irate. She couldn’t fathom why her father felt the need to deliberately cause tension and angst. Would it kill him to have just one nice dinner?

She had been shocked when he didn’t follow her to her room like he had many times when she was a teenager. Though, she might have Lauren to thank for that. The woman seemed to have some such sorcery that calmed her father in a way Hailey had never seen before.

From what Hailey could gather from the brief moments she’d spent around the two of them at dinner, Lauren was gentle with David, and he seemed to be enthralled with her. Though he all but ignored Hailey and Trinity, he happily engaged with Lauren, eager to ask her about her day or listen to one of her stories.

Hailey found their interactions completely bizarre in comparison to how David had communicated with her mother.

Still fuming over how the conversation ended, Hailey had left to tell Sara about the diaries. Hailey wasn’t sure the affair had anything to do with Morgan’s death, but it was intriguing none-the-less. And she hoped her sister had a change of heart about the videotape after having time to cool off.

Thankfully, Trinity was spending the night with Cecilia at Genevieve’s house, so Hailey had no responsibilities for the evening. Hailey was slightly dumbfounded when Trinity requested a sleepover. The teen didn’t always take kindly to people. To see her getting close to the girl, and to Gen, was a nice change of pace.

Walking up the porch steps, Hailey saw light filtering through the blinds. She knocked and soft footsteps creaked across the floor just before Sara slowly opened it.

Sara was clearly on edge, her eyes darting around as she took in her surroundings. Was Sara always on edge or had Hailey startled her by showing up unannounced?

Sara huffed and rolled her eyes as soon as she saw her sister. “Go away, Hailey,” she said as she slammed the door closed.

How mature.

Well, Sara would be irritated to find that Hailey had no intentions of leaving until Sara at least listened to her. The problem with Hailey and Sara was they were both stubborn. And because Sara was trapped inside and Hailey wasn’t, Hailey guessed she would be the clear winner of this battle of wills.

Hailey was on a roll pissing everyone off tonight, so why stop now? She pounded on the door loudly. “I’m not leaving until you talk to me.”

“Or I can call the cops.”

Hailey laughed. “We both know you're not going to call the cops. So, you can either open the door and hear what I have to say and then I’ll leave, or I can stand here all night and annoy the hell out of you like the good ‘ole days.”

Hailey waited, eager to know if Sara would call her bluff.

Finally, Sara groaned. “It’s too late to be dealing with your bullshit.”

As if it was her very own victory song, the locks clicked, and the knob turned. Sara cracked the door and peered out. Not waiting for an invitation, Hailey shoved her way past Sara. “First of all, it’s only nine-thirty. Second, I had ‘family dinner’ with Dad and Lauren, which was awful, and I needed to get out of the house.”

Sara stood at the door, glaring at Hailey. Hailey was trying to keep the conversation light. She didn’t want a repeat of their previous spat, but Sara was in no mood for it.

Hailey sighed. “Look, I know I really messed up over the years, but I want to make it right.”

It was clear Sara wasn’t convinced by Hailey’s pleas of redemption, but Hailey was being honest. And maybe it wasn’t fair to ask Sara to forgive her after all this time, but Hailey couldn’t walk away until she at least tried. It was a measly olive branch, but Hailey hoped Sara would accept it.

Sara didn’t respond, she simply stood near the door, far from Hailey. Not knowing what else to do, Hailey sat on the couch. The two became silent, retreating into their own memories as they avoided eye contact.

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