Call It What You Want(87)
“If you vomit in here, you’re going to clean it up,” he says.
“Let me out,” I grind out.
He pulls to a stop right there. Unlocks the doors.
“Remember what I said,” he says. “That’s not the only proof I have.”
“Connor knows,” I say.
“Connor doesn’t know anything. He knows how to respect his father. He won’t believe you over me.”
I didn’t call because my father wouldn’t let me.
He’s right. Connor always obeys his father.
I think of the way Bill’s hand smacked into my face and realize Connor has good reason to.
I open the door and put a foot on the ground. The wind whips at the paper, and I’m careful to keep a grip on it.
“And even if he does, Connor has seen what has happened to you,” Bill says. “I don’t think I could teach a lesson any better, do you?”
“Go away.” I slam the door and glare at the darkened glass. “Go away.”
He goes.
I walk. I think. I seethe.
When I get home, my mother is waiting in the dining room. My father is beside her in his chair.
She looks like she’s been up all night, but she flies across the room and wraps me up in her arms.
“Oh, Robbie,” she says. “I’ve been so worried.”
“Me too.” I don’t hug her back.
She hears the tone in my voice and draws back, studying my face.
I shove the paper in her direction. “Did you know what Dad was doing?”
She takes the paper from my hand, and her expression goes still. After a moment, she takes a deep breath and looks up. “Robbie. I’m sorry.”
My heart stops. I’m sure of it. I can’t move.
I don’t think I realized how much I needed her to deny it until she didn’t.
She must finally get a good look at me, because she touches a hand to my lip. “What—what happened?”
“Bill happened.” I brush her hand away. I don’t want her touch right now. I don’t want any of it. Behind her, my father sits silently. I’ve hated him for a long time.
This is the first time I’ve hated her, too.
“What does that mean?” she whispers. She glances down at the paper in her hands again. Her face pales a shade. Her face crumples. “I can—I need to tell you—”
“Don’t bother.” I brush her aside and head for the stairs. When I reach my room, I slam the door.
The noise or the tension must affect my father. He starts making panicked sounds.
I don’t want to care. I don’t.
Mom yells, “Oh, shut up!”
The front door slams.
He doesn’t stop.
A car starts in the driveway.
After a long moment, I take a breath. I open my door and go downstairs to take care of my father.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Maegan
Rob hasn’t shown up for school. Obviously.
Samantha tried to convince me to skip classes and stay holed up in her room, but I don’t have the strength to avoid my parents all day long. At least school offers a break from them, from Rob, from all of it. I’ve been keeping to myself, hiding in plain sight. My nerves have been a jangly mess, as if I’m waiting for some other shoe to drop. Will cops show up to arrest me, too? Am I an accomplice? All I did was … do nothing. Does that make me guilty?
Sometime midmorning, I get a text from my father.
DAD: All charges have been dropped. You’re off the hook.
Relief should be the natural reaction, but it’s not. I feel like I’ve cheated again or gotten a free pass.
MAEGAN: Thanks. Does that mean Rob is free?
He doesn’t write back. Of course. Knowing my father, he’s mad that I even asked.
The day drags, but I’m dreading the end of it, so I don’t mind. When the final bell rings, I can barely convince myself to head to the parking lot. To my surprise, Owen Goettler is waiting by the side of the building, right at the edge of the lot. I doubt he has a car, and I’ve never seen him over here. When he spots me, he peels away from the wall and approaches.
I’m still stung from his comments yesterday, when he lectured me that Rob wasn’t hurting anyone. Was he right? Is that why I didn’t turn him in?
Is Owen going to yell at me some more?
But no, as he gets closer, I see that his expression is tense with worry. “Have you seen Rob?” he says.
I’m surprised by the question, and I’m sure my expression shows it. “No, you don’t know?”
“Know what?”
Of course he wouldn’t. Why would he?
“Rob was arrested,” I say. “He was breaking into the Tunstall house.”
Owen swears. “I told him not to do that.”
“You knew?”
“Yeah, I knew. He wanted to return those stupid earrings that no one was missing.”
I can’t tell if he’s upset that Rob was arrested or upset that he was returning the earrings or what.
Owen drops his voice. “Is Rob going to be okay?”
“Yeah. My dad said the Tunstalls dropped the charges.”
“Why?”
I inhale to answer—but I have no idea. “Maybe they figured he’s been through enough.”