Exaltation (Insight #11)(22)
Right when Raven noticed his glance, that he was watching, her seat dancing stopped. She pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t smile. She was always the daughter who smiled no matter what, even when she was in trouble.
She didn’t really think she was in trouble, but she didn’t know for sure.
“So. Mr. Newberry,” Jamison said.
Raven didn’t say a word.
“Were you avoiding only him or other classes as well?”
“Seriously, Dad, it was kinda like you said in the meeting, only not really.”
Jamison raised his brow to question her.
“Okay you had it right about us just flipping and such. I just told the girls he was creepy. I pointed him out then Ash wanted to sit in his class. I guess to get full effect of his creepiness. It just spiraled from there. She wanted to stay in the class so we had to move others around, but we were for real still studying and such.”
“So he was the catalyst?” Raven nodded once. “What bothered you about him?”
“Are you kidding? You met him. Someone must tinkle in his cheerios every morning. That guy is saturated in antagonism. I bet he hates life as a whole—not just his job. I heard he had some big hotshot job as a researcher and lost it. So now the poor unsuspecting souls of our school’s upper classmen are stuck with him.”
“You noticed his anger?” Jamison asked as evenly as possible. That was always a fear of his, that his daughter would pick up traits her mother had, would crave the anger emotion as well as exaltation. He wasn’t sure how she could handle those two extremes.
“Oh my God you had to have too, he totally did not like you.”
“I’m not asking about him. I’m asking about the anger you noticed. Do you always notice anger?” Jamison pressed.
“No, and if I do I avoid it. Mellow is my game, Dad. No mess, no stress. Inner bliss and all that jazz.”
Jamison laughed.
“I totally think he has a past with Miss Emery. She probably made him look like a fool or something and now I bet he has it in his head that you and Miss Emery are an item.”
Jamison clenched his hands around the steering wheel. He was furious at himself for not taking care of Duncan way back when. Then again, back then he was sure killing the ex of the woman you were in love with was not the best way to go about things. Not with all the other elements that were already against him.
Jamison cleared his throat. He did it to calm himself down, but Raven saw it a differently.
Her eyes went wide. “NO. No way she hooked up with him. He is so beneath her and totally not her type.”
“And what is Miss Emery’s type?” Jamison asked, with one brow raised.
Emery was certain the girls had no idea they were together, and was sure they would be mad if they understood the twisted path that brought them together. Jamison didn’t agree. He thought they would understand, that the twins had old souls and if anything they would be more upset it took them as long as it had to tell them the truth.
“Not him,” Raven said with a bright smile. “If I had to guess I would say southern businessmen who were equally brilliant and charming.” She winked at him just in case he didn’t get her hint, which made him laugh.
Silence fell again. A second later he spoke. “So when you skipped lunch today did you eat anything?”
Busted.
“We were running late this morning and made it to school on fumes. We wanted to fill the Jeep up. I doubt we would have been able to sit through the traffic as low as we were.”
“Did you eat?”
“I was going to eat in study hall.”
“Lunch it is,” he said as he signaled to turn.
A block later he turned into one of his favorite diners, which was also an investment of his.
They were seated at a booth in the back that had a window that looked out at the Mississippi. They didn’t even have to order here; the staff always knew exactly what sandwiches they wanted.
“How come you have never asked me about your mom?” he asked Raven in a quiet tone.
He and Emery had told the girls about their witch background just before they covered their memories to hide the trauma in the past. But never once, even in those times when Raven was adamantly aware of her family history, had she ever asked about her mother. He found that odd, but at the same time it backed up what his heart was telling him: Raine was a host and nothing more.
Raven shrugged. “Why would I?”
“I assumed you would be curious.”
Raven honestly never thought about the mother thing. She’d always seen Emery in that role. By the time she was old enough to understand Miss Emery was not her mother, she also realized no one had ever mentioned who her mom was. She was sure they had their reasons, and truthfully Raven didn’t want to know if it was dark and twisted.
“I’m totally not like River, Dad. I don’t have some long lost parent issue or anything.”
“River has that issue?” he asked, as he leaned back in his seat, hoping Raven didn’t see the concern in his eyes.
“I think she might be getting over it. I really don’t ask and she doesn’t talk about it anymore.”
“When did she talk about it?”
Raven let her curious stare linger on him for a moment before she answered. “Remember the girl who called us devil worshippers because her mom wanted to hook up with you and you didn’t?”