Page 79 of Whirlwind

“Jessa will be back home in time for the auction,” I continued. “And the two of you will finalize the designs and begin construction. Once you break ground, I’ll be there to take the official photos, like I always do.”

“Don’t do this, Violet. Please.”

“I have to, Daddy.” My eyes stung, my lips trembled, and I sucked in a breath. “Right now, I need to.” My hold on the snow globe tightened, and I brushed past him and headed for the back door.

“Honey, wait—” Dad’s heavy footsteps grew louder behind me.

“Violet.” Wes’s steady voice boomed though the house, and my lungs stalled. His tall body filled the kitchen doorway, his face grim. This wasn’t his first time on this merry-go-round. Wes had never forgiven Dad for not doing something about Five, and Dad had never forgiven Wes for having once pointed out Five’s dangerous antics.

“Bye, Dad.” I tripped down the stone steps to the driveway, and Wes’s hand went to my back as we headed for my car. “What are you doing here?” I fished my keys out of my pocket.

Wes took the snow globe from me. “My mom told me what happened. I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He opened the car door for me. “You want me to drive?”

“I’m good.” I got into my car and took the snow globe from him, setting it in the paper-lined small box I had prepared for it.

“Gigi’s, right?” He shut my door.

“Yep.”

My gaze darted to the kitchen door. No Dad. Door closed.

I started my car as Wes got on his bike at the end of the driveway. He pulled out, and as I put my car in reverse a wash of sour rose up my throat. My vision blurred as I quickly backed out, swerved onto the road.

Goodbye to another house. Goodbye to another way of life. This time, the smoking ruins were only visible to me. The roar of Wes’s motorcycle jolted my already jagged pulse. He tore down the street ahead of me.

I wiped at my eyes and hit the road.

31

Beck

I staredat the elegantly arranged platter of sushi as I drained my glass of sake.

Dad had called me a couple of hours ago, inviting me out to lunch at Sasao our favorite restaurant in our neighborhood ever since I’d first moved out to L.A. It was our place.

I hadn’t seen much of him at all lately. He worked long hours in the studio with Astra and her band and then went out with her and stayed at her house now that I was home so they could fuck freely, I guess. How thoughtful. His wife and kid had decided to stay in Mexico another few weeks. So I was basically alone at the house, which was nice, but not so nice.

Ever since I’d gotten back from Nashville, the house seemed too silent, so asphyxiating. Now, it was a living monument to a broken family and I wandered its halls alone. Kendrick had called me with another house to look at, but I’d told him I wasn’t feeling well. The last thing I wanted to do was look at real estate, pretend everything was great, that I was happy and getting on with my life.

I gestured at the waiter and he refilled my glass. “Thank you.” I sucked down the booze.

My phone rang. “Dad? Where are you? I already ordered, because—”

“I’m sorry, son, but I’m stuck in fucking traffic yet again. There’s never a good time of day to be on the road in this town anymore!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll order for you and bring it home, okay? See you there.”

“Okay, good. I’ll see you at home—whenever I get there!”

“Relax, Eric.” I chuckled and clicked off the line. A shitload of Instagram notifications flooded my screen, but that was nothing new. I ignored them and turned over my phone on the table.

I gestured at the waiter and he came over. “Sir?”

I placed an order to go of my dad’s favorite sashimi and sushi along with a couple of avocado rolls for me later. “And the check please.”

“Of course.”

I ate as I waited for the order, but I could barely taste the fresh flavors that I usually loved. Nothing was helping this feeling of aimlessness. Not even practicing guitar and piano every morning. Being consistent with yoga and swimming. Nope.

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