Page 72 of Until Now

I flew to West Palm Beach and stayed there for almost two weeks. I turned my phone off, Michaela could handle the business. After two weeks, I figured it was time to head home, but I was honestly scared to turn my phone back on. After a flood of texts, emails, and missed calls, I only opened one message.

DADDY

“Just give him some time, Davina,” Mother says. “He’ll get over it.”

Time? He’s had sixty-seven days, how much time does he need? I scoff. “And, why are you okay with it?”

No one else seems to notice how well Mother is taking the whole thing. I knew Daddy would be mad, but I didn't think between the two, she would be the one who was nice about the whole ordeal.

“I’m not,” her voice sharp. “But, I’m not going to hold it against you. I know we haven’t always gotten along, but I would like to think we’re more alike than you know.”

“You and I? Okay.”

“I just don’t understand why you thought you had to hire some boy to be your boyfriend.”

“You don’t understand? You invited my ex-boyfriend to our house. If you hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t be in this position. Did it ever occur to you that the rest of us don’t want to spend our time with Lee?”

“Don’t blame me for your actions, Davina Bay. You chose to bring that boy, no one else.”

“I don’t have time for this.” I throw my napkin on the table.

“You rush to get into bed with someone you don’t even know, someone you…hired,” she says the word quietly, scared someone might hear. “And, somehow it’s my fault?”

“Nick slept on the floor for days. We kept our distance. But, things happened. Mistakes happened.”

“You’ve made a lot of mistakes, Nina.”

“And, I don’t regret any of them.”

“Not even what you did to that poor cop?”

“That wasn’t my fault.”

“No?”

“Teagan stuck her nose where it didn’t belong.”

“He should have been arrested.”

“It was consensual.”

“That doesn't make it legal. Sleeping with a minor—”

“I wasn’t a minor.”

“Oh, please. You think I don’t know what you were doing well before then?”

“You couldn’t have cared less. I could’ve been dead in a ditch and you wouldn’t have noticed. You never cared about me or what I was doing. You only cared about—”

“Davina Bay,” Daddy’s voice halts the argument. “Ti scuserai con tua madre, ora.”

“No.”

“Apologize.”

“No apology needed,” Mother assures him. Her smile is sickening.“Is everything okay?”

“Nothing Kai can’t handle.”

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