How (Not) to Fall in Love(34)

I raised my hand in a half wave. He saluted me with a grin, then slid into the car and drove away into the night, taillights disappearing too quickly.

There went my dream guy. Who happened to be unavailable. Not to mention completely unattainable.

I slammed the front door behind me, as if that would keep my feelings for Lucas outside, too. I had way too much else going on in my life to be distracted by him. I needed to focus my energy on Dad, and Mom. I was the sanest of the three of us. I had to do something to keep us from crashing, because I was pretty sure we were careening out of control down a twisting road that dropped into nowhere.

The house was silent. No late night TV noises. After checking to make sure all the doors were locked and lights were out, I trudged upstairs with Toby at my heels.

I paused at Mom’s door and heard her snoring. Great. The more she drank, the louder she snored. So much for telling her what I’d figured out from Dad’s postcards and my online research.

“Come on, Tobester,” I whispered. “It’s time for bed.”

Exhaustion overwhelmed me. I didn’t have the energy to look up more clonehenges tonight. I’d do it tomorrow. Maybe then Mom would be in a better condition to listen to me.

Toby and I snuggled together under my covers, listening to the wind howl outside. I closed my eyes. “I’m going to find you, Dad,” I whispered. “I don’t know how, but I will.”





Chapter Thirteen


October 27


“Now!” Mom screamed into the phone. “You get over here right now, J.J. You can tell me in person what the hell this is.” Mom held a stack of papers in her trembling hand. She ended the call and threw her phone against the wall. Plastic bits went flying, making Toby cower and slink away.

I reassembled Mom’s phone while she disappeared into the wine cellar. Maybe tonight she’d let me have a glass. I shuddered and shook my head. That wouldn’t solve anything; she was living proof of that. I picked up the papers, pages and pages of legalese, but one word jumped out at me.

Eviction.

My runner’s legs morphed from muscle to liquid in seconds. I sank onto a kitchen barstool, my eyes blurring with tears as I tried to decipher the document. Mom came back into the kitchen, clumsily juggling three bottles of wine. My stomach clenched as I looked at her.

“Please, Mom. Not now. Can’t you go without drinking for just one day?”

She glared at me. “You see what that says? They’re kicking us out, Darcy. Kicking us out of our own f*cking house.”

“Mom!” She’d never dropped the f-bomb. Ever.

She sneered at me. “It’s not like I’m offending you. And if there was ever a time for me to get drunk, it’s now.”

Tears streamed down my face, but I shook with anger. “Damn it, Mom. You have to stop this. J.J.’s on his way over. You can talk to him. Convince him to change his mind.”

“That’s what I’m planning to do, Darcy.”

I took a deep breath. “He’s not going to take you seriously if you’re drunk.”

“I don’t need you lecturing me. You have no idea what I’m going through. Go upstairs, Darcy.”

“No.”

Her eyes widened. “No? Who do you think you are?”

“I’m Tri Ty’s daughter,” I said flatly. “And yours. And I’m not going anywhere.”

We stared at each other, not moving or speaking.

Toby broke the tension with a bark when the front doorbell rang. I felt Mom’s glare like an icy wind on my back as I went to answer the door.

J.J. looked startled to see me instead of Mom. “She’s in the kitchen,” I said. “Come on.”

He followed me, footsteps heavy on the tile. When we reached the kitchen the three of us stood like points on a triangle, watching each other warily.

J.J. spoke first. “You can’t hide out anymore, Marilyn,” he said. “If we don’t have Ty, we don’t have a product to sell. By disappearing, he’s completely ruined Harvest.” His face was haggard, but I saw no compassion in his eyes. “The eviction was a board decision. I can’t change it.”

“How can you do this, J.J.? Kick us out of our home?” Mom’s face showed only fear, no traces of her earlier anger.

J.J.’s frustration snapped at us with each word. “The company owns the house. It’s one of the only assets we own free and clear. The board is seizing it.”

Mom’s face crumpled. “But I thought it was our house. Mine and Ty’s.”

J.J. scowled. “It used to be. But Ty signed the house deed over to the business.”

“What?” Mom reached out for a chair to steady herself. She looked as fragile as a lost child, and all of my anger at her dissolved. I crossed the kitchen and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Why would he do that?” Tears streamed down Mom’s face. “I don’t understand.”

J.J. looked at the floor as he spoke. “I told you about the bad investment decisions. Maybe he felt guilty about that.”

My anxiety swelled to enormous proportions. This didn’t make sense. The one thing Dad would never do was leave Mom and me without a roof over our heads. Didn’t J.J. know that?

Mom sank slowly into a chair. She pulled a crumpled tissue out of her pocket, wiped her eyes, then spoke again. “We need more time. This eviction notice doesn’t even give us a month to get moved.” Her voice was pleading. “J.J., at least give us more time.”