Page 120 of Hello Stranger

But I was shaking my head. I could not, not,notbe trading Joe for Lucinda. “Don’t go.” I followed him to the door. “It’s not a real emergency. She just wants attention!”

But Joe shrugged, like he didn’t know how to stay.

I couldn’t blame him. Developing emotional armor for someone like Lucinda takes years. You needed, like, agraduate degreein emotional manipulation.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Joe said as he slipped out the door.

Tomorrow? That was aneternity.

As soon as he was gone, I rounded on Lucinda. “What,” I demanded, “is this ‘emergency’?”

Lucinda took a deep breath and crossed her arms. “Your father,” she said, “has had an accident.”

Okay. I admit. She got me.“What?”

She nodded, like my panic was legit. “And I’ve been trying to reach you.”

“What happened? Where is he?”

And here, leaning in and just owning it, she said, “He slammed his hand in the garage door.”

I paused. “He what?”

“It’s very swollen and bruised. He fractured his small metacarpal.”

“His pinkie?” I said. “You came all the way over here like the buzzkill of all buzzkills to tell me that Dad fractured hispinkie?”

“That’s a very big deal to a surgeon.”

“I’m sure it is,” I said. “But it’s not”—and I hit the T pretty hard onnot—“an emergency.”

“It was very frightening at the time.”

“Lucinda,” I said, “why are you really here?”

Lucinda sighed. “The point is,” she said, “because of his hand, your father won’t be making his trip to Vienna next week. So I invited him to your art show.”

I shook my head. “Why?”

“Because! We’re family.”

“Have you ever seen a family?” I demanded. “We’re nothing even close.”

What was this new determination to bond?

More important: Was the art shownext week?

Wow, the time really flew after brain surgery.

After a second, I said, “He’s not coming, is he?”

“Of course he’s coming,” Lucinda said proudly. “We’re all coming. Me, your dad, and Parker.”

“No,” I said.

Lucinda’s shoulders dropped, and her disappointment almost felt genuine.

“You’re not coming,” I said. “Not him. Not you. And sure as shit not Parker.”

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