Page 11 of One Last Night

Julian is venting his frustration and means no harm by what he says, but he forgets how much of an impact a father’s words have on his children. The twins both pale and look at each other with naked fear.

“Come, children,” I say firmly. “The adults have business to tend to.”

When we are upstairs and out of earshot of the adults, I tell them, “Don’t take their words too seriously right now. They’re both angry and afraid, and when people are angry and afraid, they behave differently than when they are composed.”

“Well, they’ve been angry and afraid a lot lately,” Nathan retorts. “It feels pretty normal by now.”

He walks into his room and slams the door without waiting for my reply. Luann shakes her head and mutters, “What a lovely morning.”

She heads to her room, but I grab her arm and stop her. She flinches a little but doesn’t pull away. Her face reddens, and she lowers her eyes, not a good sign for her considering the question I’m about to ask.

I don’t want to scare her into shutting down. I can’t entirely avoid the risk, and in fact, it’s not likely she’ll be honest with me. But I have to ask, and if her skill at lying is as poor as it seems to be, then I might be able to discern the truth anyway.

“Luann, you have my word that nothing you tell me now will reach anyone’s ears but mine, no matter how horrible it is. But I need to know for your own safety: could this boy you’ve been meeting have anything to do with the sabotage on your grandmother’s vineyard last night?”

She looks at me in shock, but there’s no guilt in this shock. She’s just surprised. “What? No! There’s no way he’d be that stupid.”

“Forgive me for being blunt, but young men are always stupid when it comes to the young women with whom they’re infatuated.”

“Okay, but why would he destroy my grandmother’s vines? Like, how would that make me like him more?”

“Perhaps he’s upset that your father wouldn’t approve of your relationship.”

Her eyes shift to the left. I can tell I’m onto something here. “Your father wouldn’t approve of your relationship, would he?”

“He wouldn’t approve of me dating anyone. You know how fathers are.”

She’s deflecting. I press further. “Yes, but he wouldn’t approve of this young man specifically, would he?”

Her eyes shift again, this time to the floor. She’s about to tell me the truth and now feels guilt instead of fear. “No, he wouldn’t.”

“As I said, plenty of young men behave foolishly in such situations. I’m sure you don’t think that the young man you fancy is violent or dangerous, but has he ever expressed frustration or irritation at the fact that the two of you have to sneak around instead of being open with your relationship?”

She rolls her eyes. “Oh my God.” In an exaggerated singsong voice, she says, “No, he justlovesit! We’resoglad that our families hate each other and we have to hike to a… somewhere else to spend time together. It’s thebest!”

I frown. “Your families hate each other?”

She blanches, aware of her mistake. “I mean… Theywouldhate each other… I mean,Dadwould hate it if we were dating.”

The pieces are falling into place. Julian’s angry phone call the night before. His argument with Victoria this morning. Luann’s late-night excursions and her fear of her father learning of the boy she likes.

“He’s Robert Cartwright’s grandson, isn’t he?”

Luann flinches and looks quickly left and right. Then she grabs my arm and pulls me into her room. Once the door is shut behind us, she grips two fistfuls of her hair and groans, “Ugh! Why can’t people just leave me alone?”

“When it comes to your safety, Luann, I can’t leave you alone.”

“I can handle myself!”

I give her a frank look. “If I had a dollar for every teenager who said—”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She sighs. “Ugh! It’s just not fair!”

“Many things in life aren’t fair. Including the destruction of nineteen bushels of your grandmother’s—”

“I know, I get it!”

I frown and say sternly, “Do not interrupt me, young lady.”

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