spun. She felt like she was going to be sick, even with the cold
air blowing right in her face. She felt like she couldn’t breathe.
Like she was stifling. “How could…why would you do that?
You can’t! Tell Dad that they can’t say those things! I’ll deny
all of them and I’ll never come home. Danica has done
nothing wrong in all of this. She’s given me a place to stay.
She’s been nice to me. She’s a good person. You can’t drag her
through the mud like that with those lies.”
“A nice person?” Sandra scoffed. “She’s clearly seduced
you. I saw that photo of you two on the beach. No daughter of
mine would do something so reckless, not even on purpose.”
“I told you that guy was a creep—”
“It’s her. She’s turning you into someone we don’t
recognize, speaking that way to your father, taking you to that
beach. She probably hired that photographer for leverage over
you. You’re staying at her house. How very convenient for her
to get her claws into you. She’s turning you against us and it’s
only been a few days.” There was a dark conviction in
Sandra’s voice that said she believed every single one of those
words.
Emily shook her head. She couldn’t believe Sandra was able
to say those things. “If I’m someone you don’t recognize, it’s
only because I’m a better person now than I was when I left. I
would never spin this around and turn it back on someone who
hasn’t done a thing wrong. I won’t come home. I won’t even
talk about this. Dani is a good person. If you go after her, if
you hurt her, then you’re hurting me, and we won’t have any
relationship left to repair. Is that what you want? If you really
want to talk, we can talk. We can talk about art school and
your show and that part of my career. Maybe we can even talk