Page 85 of Feast

“Dad, she’s okay. I’d tell you if she wasn’t.”

His sigh was long and familiar—he’d used it a lot during her teenage years. “You promise?”

“Cross my heart,” she vowed.

“Okay, then. What about you?”

“What about me?”

“What’d you do last Saturday night?”

Your stepson tied me up, made me choke on his dick, then fucked me up the ass until I couldn’t walk.“I’ve taken up counted cross stitch. How do you feel about a three-foot by five-foot tapestry depicting the fall of Rome as a birthday gift?”

“Fine, don’t tell me.”

Maddie pulled to a stop in front of Spence’s place and switched off the engine. “I love you, Dad.”

“Brat,” he grumbled, but the affection was clear. “I love you, too.”

“Good talk, Dad.” Maddie unbuckled her seatbelt. “Tell Heather I said hi.”

“Tell her yourself. She wants you to come for dinner on Sunday.”

Maddie reached into the backseat for her overnight bag. “Dinner? On Sunday?”

“For her birthday. It’s Tuesday, but rather than ask you to take time off work, we figured Sunday would be easier for all of you.”

Uh-oh.“All of us?”

“You, Spence and Halley,” he explained. “We thought you kids could all drive up together on Saturday night, stay over.”

“Um, Dad, I don’t know if—”

“I know you’re not very comfortable around her yet,” Stephen went on seriously. “But she really wants to get to know you, and it would really mean a lot to me if you’d come.”

Oh, God. She was trapped, and knowing it, sighed. “I’ll talk to Halley. I don’t know if we’ll be there on Saturday, but we should be able to make Sunday dinner.”

“Whatever you can do. Thanks, Maddie.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Well, I better let you get your dinner. Love you, kiddo.”

“Love you, too,” she said, and after she’d hung up, sighed and leaned her head back against the headrest for a moment.

“Complicated,” she reminded herself, and with Thai in one hand and her bags in the other, climbed out of the car.

Spence openedthe door to Maddie, took one look at her face, and said, “They called you.”

“My dad,” she confirmed and handed him a plastic bag. “Thai. I got a six-pack, too, but I forgot it in the car.”

“I’ll get it in a minute.” He carried the food to the table. “So?”

She set down her bag and sat to pull off her boots. “So, what?”

“What’d you tell him?”

She shrugged, tugging at her laces. “That I’d talk to Halley and we’d figure it out, but honestly? I don’t think I want to go up on Saturday.”

---