It was Vaughn.
Bailey stopped yelling. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you,” he answered dryly. “I see now that was a terrible idea.”
“Ha.” She sniffed haughtily. “I’m on the phone with Dahlia.”
“And that constitutes using every curse word known to man? It’s an odd friendship you have there.”
I smirked at his sarcasm.
“You know, you’re very pretty when you don’t open your mouth,” my best friend replied.
“I know for a fact that you prefer when my mouth is open and working.”
“Okay, best friend can hear everything!” I yelled.
Bailey chuckled. “Dahlia can hear you.”
His tone changed. “Is she all right?”
He sounded concerned. That was nice.
“She’s fine. However, her brother Dermot makes Vanessa look like an angel.”
“Not true,” I disagreed, feeling the need to defend Dermot against that accusation despite his reaction to my reappearance. Vanessa was a demon hellhound in a woman’s body.
“Would you like me to have him killed?” Vaughn sounded worryingly serious.
Bailey answered, “Let’s see how the visit goes. I’ll get back to you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll let you go.”
“You don’t have to.”
“No, I’ve had y
ou on the phone for two hours, and it sounds like Prince Charming wants to work his mouth.”
Bailey chuckled. “I wish he could hear you right now. On second thought, he likes a woman with a smart mouth. He might fall in love with you.”
“Not possible,” I replied. “I’ll call you later.”
“You better.”
We hung up, and I found myself alone in the house.
Just like that, it felt like the walls were coming in on me. I couldn’t get out of the house fast enough. Not only did I pick up a box of baked goodies from Bova’s to take home, I spent hours in the city. I didn’t get a bus home until ten o’ clock, and I took myself to bed as soon as I got home.
The house was cold and lonely without Dad in it.
Thankfully, after hours of walking, sleep came quickly.
* * *
The next morning, Dad surprised me by getting up at nine, early considering he usually didn’t get home until around three. I knew it was because he wanted to spend as much time as possible with me before I went back to Hartwell. No decision had been made yet about when that would be.
I guess when I was certain Dad was going to be okay.