Page 75 of What Is Love
“Your point, because I know you have one?” Roe asked.
“Does he know she’s going to be staying here for however long?—?”
“It’ll just be for tonight,” I cut in as I worked on a calculus problem on my laptop. Not even an hour ago, I had gotten a text from Prue telling me that she’d found out from Clay’s house cleaner that he was flying out early tomorrow morning. Apparently, Prue had “run into” her at the dry cleaners picking up a last-minute suit Clay needed for the trip, and it had happened to come up in conversation. Whether it genuinely had or not, I was grateful to know he was leaving.
“Yes, Dad knows,” Roe said. “He said she can stay however long she needs to.”
After things were put away, Roe returned to the table. Reid messed around on his phone across from us while we finished up our homework. Roe was done a lot faster than me and most of his classes were AP. I’d known he was smart, but now, I was curious how smart.
“What colleges are you hoping to get accepted to?” I asked him.
“Stanford or MIT,” he answered. “What about you?”
I closed my laptop, finally finished. “I have to go to Brown.”
“Have to?” Reid said, inviting himself into our conversation. “Is there a school you want to go to?”
“All Kendrys go to Brown.”
“You’re...” Reid started to say, but stopped himself. He cleared his throat. “If you weren’t a Kendry, where would you go?”
I stared down at my laptop, feeling vulnerable. I had the answer. It was just hard to voice it. “There’s an art school in California I applied to, but I can’t go even if I’m accepted.”
I could hear the confusion in Reid’s voice when he asked, “If you’re so sure of that, then why did you bother applying?”
“Because my drawing teacher kept insisting and for one moment, I gave in to hope that things could be different. Then reality set in. My family—both my mother and grandfather would cut me off financially. If that didn’t work, my mother would break every bone in my body to stop me from going.” I hadn’t any doubt she would start with my hands.
I had tried to make it seem like the bone-breaking was just an exaggeration, but Roe was staring at me with an intense look and Reid seemed put off.
I was about to ask them what was wrong when Wyatt walked in looking freshly showered. His dyed blond hair was still wet. “All right, Reid, you’re helping me.”
“I figured,” Reid grumbled and reluctantly stood from the table.
“Roe, stay the hell out of the kitchen. In fact, don’t even come near it,” Wyatt said as he got busy grabbing things from cabinets.
“I told you it was an accident,” Roe said.
“You dumped a whole container of salt into the chili,” Wyatt said.
Roe sighed exhaustedly. “I told you it needed salt.”
Wyatt spun to face him. “Not the whole container!”
“The lid fell off!” Roe shook his head. “You know what, fine. I will stay out of the kitchen.”
Wyatt’s shoulders sagged a little as if relieved, making me wonder if the excessive salt usage hadn’t been the first time Roe had messed up in the kitchen.
“Good. Take the joint thief to the living room,” Wyatt said, gesturing to me. “I’m sure it’s hurting her body more sitting in that hard chair.”
“Wyatt!” I blurted, trying to stop him from saying any more, at the same time Roe asked, “What?”
Reid, who had been standing just outside the kitchen waiting for Wyatt’s instruction, glanced at me.
Wyatt looked from me to Roe and back to me, realizing what he had done. “I thought…” His brow scrunched up. “Since you were here, I thought you told him. I’m sorry.”
Roe’s head turned to me. “What is he talking about?”
I squeezed my eyes shut as I exhaled heavily. I didn’t know what the fuck to say. Normally, I could come up with an explanation quick. Right now, I had nothing. Maybe it was because I knew Roe actually cared—knew he’d see through any lie I could tell.
