Ice spread through me at those words. “Dad, not here. Not in Sawyers Bend. Grams and I have a business here. Can't you just visit and then—”
Hurt filled my father's eyes. “You don't want me around? You aren't happy to see your dad?”
“It's not that, Dad. Of course, I want to see you. But I never told Grams I gave you that money. And it was from the business. You know that. I can't keep covering up—”
“Sure, you can, baby. I know how smart you are.” He stood and gave me a long hug. “You're my beautiful, brilliant girl, and I know you can give me just a little more time. I won't let you down.”
Taking the plate from my hands, he sauntered into the kitchen, leaving me with another flash of his grin and more problems than I'd had at the start of our conversation.
Typical.
I heard laughter through the kitchen door and fought back tears. I wanted to be on the inside, laughing with Grams and my mom. I didn't want to be standing here alone, angry at my parents and unable to look Grams in the eye. I piled the rest of the dishes in my arms and pushed through the kitchen door.
“I'm sorry to leave you with the dishes, Grams, but I still have to finish setup for tomorrow.” I dumped the dishes in the sink, avoiding my grandmother's eyes.
“You go on, baby. We've got this. Don't stay up too late, okay? You need your sleep.”
“I won't,” I lied, and pressed a kiss to her cheek. I'd do anything for Grams. Anything except tell her the truth about her son and the money he almost certainly wasn't going to pay back.
I walked home with my head down, studying the screen of my phone. Out of habit, I'd started to text J.T., but as I pulled up our message thread, I realized the person I really wanted to talk to was Royal. I didn't know why. My best friend would understand about my dad without any explanation. So, why did I want Royal?
I pushed away the desire to hear Royal's voice and texted J.T.
Guess what? Dad showed up tonight. Says he has business in town.
Nothing for an endless minute. I walked down the block, seeing tourists pass me by, spotting the Sweetheart sign all the way at the other end of the street. I'd lied to Grams a little. I was done with setup, I'd just needed to get out of there.
Finally, three dots appeared on the text screen.
WTF? Do you want me to come home? I know things have been tense with him…
Yep, J.T. knew things had been tense, though I hadn't told him why. He figured it was the usual. In some ways, it was. The money just added an extra layer to the complicated relationship I had with my parents. I was debating my response when the phone rang in my hand. J.T.'s face showed on the screen.
“Hey,” I answered. “How's school?”
“It's great. Are you okay?” His voice sounded muffled like he was keeping it low for privacy.
“I just left family dinner at Grams' house. Dad spent the whole time bragging about Tampa and the poker games he won. Telling us he was going to send us to the spa.”
J.T. laughed. I could picture him shaking his head as he usually did when it came to my dad. “Did he hit you up for your credit card for the spa before or after dinner?”
“I think he's waiting on that. He said he has business in town. I asked him not to get into any trouble but—”
“Fuck. That doesn't sound good. Since we know it's not like he got a job.”
“I know. I just, I don't know, J.T.—”
A voice filtered in from the background on J.T.'s end. “Hey man, you want me to tell them we're gonna be late?”
I wanted to ask J.T. who he was with and where they were going. Not to be nosy, just because he was my friend and I wanted to know about his life like I used to. Patience, Daisy, I reminded myself. “I'm okay if you need to go, J.T.”
“You don't sound okay, Daze. You sound like shit. I can come home. I have to get up early for class, but I'll come home, and we'll raid the bakery case for cookies and watch a movie.”
That sounded so good, but I couldn't take him up on it. It wasn't much after six, but it would take almost an hour to get here from Asheville and J.T. had to be at class at six-thirty in the morning.
I loved that he loved me enough to come home anyway, and I loved him enough not to let him.
“It's a date for the weekend,” I said. “I'm going to try to go to bed early. And it sounds like you have something fun on for tonight. I don't want you to miss it for me.”