Although I have a feeling that I may already know the reason.
Given that the whole manor is abuzz with it.
Mom looks at me. “Your father and I discussed this and while we’re both wary about telling you, we think it’s the best course of action.”
My palms grow sweaty and I put down my spoon. “Best course of action for what?”
“To get a handle on the situation,” my dad says.
I look at both my mom and dad. “O-okay. What’s going on?”
My mom’s the one to answer me. “Lucas is back in town.”
My breath gets caught up in my throat and all I can do is stare at my mother, mutely.
“His father is unwell,” she tells me. “And he’s back in town for that. They say it could be any day now that… his dad could pass away.”
“How do you…”
“Someone at the manor,” mom replies.
My parents really liked Lucas. And I was always very happy about that, my boyfriend and my parents getting along. So when we broke up, my parents were disappointed.
Especially disappointed about how I brought it on. Howmy betrayalbrought it on.
I don’t think they could grasp the concept of their good, responsible daughter doing something so reckless.
“But that’s not why we wanted you to come home this weekend,” my dad says and I grow alert.
My mom and dad look at each other again and I detect a movement under the table. They’ve got their hands joined; I know. They’ve done this a lot ever since everything, as if they’ve had to form their own team. Them versus me.
I don’t blame them but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.
And just because everything hurts these days doesn’t mean that I’m used to it.
“He’s back too,” my mom says.
I knew it.
I knew when I saw their email that this is exactly what they wanted to talk to me about.
Him.
Not Lucas but his asshole ex-best friend.
The guy I kissed on my sixteenth birthday and thereby blew everything to pieces. The guy that my parents have always hated, but more so after that kiss.
And whom my father tried to beat up that night.
God, I’ve never seen my dad that angry. That enraged and furious.
One second I was shocked that Lucas had seen me with his best friend, the next I was running after him, trying to stop him, talk to him, explain. And the second afterthat, my dad was upon Reign.
It was a mess.
A big giant mess.
My dad had Reign pinned against the wall, screaming in his face. My mom was trying to pull my dad back. I was crying, trying to pull my dad back also. And I know that he would’ve killed Reign, or at least broken a few bones in his body, if my mom hadn’t sent Reign away. And that was the last time they both saw him before he left town and went back to New York.