Page 98 of The Love Ambush
Dad pats her shoulder. “That would be great, sweetheart, but we’ve got it covered. Gentry’s going to take you and Sophie out for a fun day.”
I can’t see Emily’s face, but she seems to droop just the tiniest bit. “Okay. I’m sorry the house is such a mess. We never have time to clean.”
“That’s all going to change,” Dad says. “We’re going to make time to keep the house looking good. I know the past few years have been hard on you and your sisters, but I’m here now.” Helooks over and sees Sophie, his smile growing wider. “There she is. Good to see you, Soph.”
Sophie doesn’t run into our father’s arms, but she hurries down the steps and hugs him. “I’m glad you’re here,” she says against his chest.
Dad shoos us all off. We head to town, get lunch from the local deli, and have our picnic. Emily chatters on and on about how great it’s going to be now that Dad’s living with us and how pretty Trisha is.
A sick feeling in my gut makes it hard for me to eat, but I force it all down.
“Now you can go back to art school,” Sophie says as we’re cleaning up after lunch.
I stop, shocked. “What?”
Sophie bumps my shoulder with hers. “Levi showed us your painting. You’re really good. You should be in art school.”
Pain surges through me so hard I nearly trip and fall into the trash can. I’ve been doing such a good job of not thinking about Levi, but just the mention of his name and I’m a total wreck. I miss the idiot. And I’m still mad at him for not warning me about Dad.
But I miss him more.
“Why would Levi show you my painting?” I ask as I drop our trash into the can.
“He wanted to see it,” Emily says. “We just happened to be there.”
“I think he wanted us to see it too,” Sophie says. “I think he wanted us to know…”
“To know what?” My throat is tight, and my head is throbbing, and I feel close to tears. This is all too much.
Sophie waves a hand. “Nothing. The point is, you should go back to art school. Dad’s here now, and we all know you’d make a terrible nurse.”
I gasp. “I would not.”
Emily laughs. “You can lie to yourself, Gentry, but you can’t lie to us. We’ve seen you freak out around blood.”
Can I really go back to art school? The local university, Maple Ridge, has a decent program, so I wouldn’t have to go far from the girls. It wouldn’t be the elite program I was in before, but it might be good enough.
My heart leaps with excitement at the idea. I could make art my life again. My hands itch to pick up a paintbrush.
“Do you think we can go home now?” Emily asks.
We’ve been out for exactly one hour. “We haven’t given them enough time,” I say. “We could go to the library for a bit.”
“We always go to the bookstore or the library,” Sophie says. “Why can’t we do something I want to do for a change?”
My headache gets worse at the thought of the argument brewing. I so don’t have the energy for this. “What would you like to do, Sophie? We have the whole afternoon.”
She stares at me. “I don’t know. Something fun.”
“The library is fun,” Emily says. “There’s nothing else to do in this stupid town.”
Sophie glares at Emily and opens her mouth to say something I’m certain won’t help the situation.
“How about we go to the library?” I say. “And while we’re there, you can come up with a fun place to go next, Sophie.”
Sophie crosses her arms over her chest, scowling like the twelve-year-old she was not so long ago. “Fine. Whatever.”
“Great.”
