True Places(81)

Brynn had been working through this all day while the shows rolled and hundred-calorie packs of cookies became litter on the couch. Now that her father had confirmed what she suspected—that he was mostly full of crap—she was seriously annoyed.

“You didn’t talk to Robby’s father, did you?” She wasn’t sure she wanted him to. She’d rather the incident be erased from everyone’s mind. It was embarrassing, for starters. She would feel differently, maybe, if Robby had texted her, gotten in touch with her at all, after the party. But he hadn’t. No way was she texting him; she wouldn’t grovel. If she’d really been played and thrown out like the trash, then she’d prefer the whole mess be dropped.

“Not yet,” her dad said. “I’m not sure how to approach Robert.” He was looking at her like she might know. That pissed her off.

“How about: ‘Your son is a dick’?”

Her father half smiled, uneasy. “I’m not sure what that achieves.”

He was protecting his deal. Why else? Ruthless, but not so anyone would notice. But now that she had noticed it, she couldn’t unnotice it. Her father liked to believe that he worried about her. He liked to tell himself that he was doing the right thing, but like pretty much everyone Brynn knew, he was actually doing what was easiest, what got him closer to what he wanted most, and it made her sad to realize that what he wanted most didn’t have to do with her. He didn’t see it, but she could, because she was the same. And because of that, she couldn’t let him see how angry she was. Instead she pushed the anger down, like dunking a hot frying pan into a sink of water. One sizzle and then nothing.

She shrugged. “Yeah, he probably knows Robby’s a dick. Maybe he’s proud of what a dick his kid is.”

“It’s possible. I don’t like Robert much.” Her father leaned back in his chair, slumping down.

Brynn felt a wave of sympathy for her dad for having to deal with people he didn’t like while he chased after money. But she was irritated, too. Wasn’t she supposed to come first? She thought of her mom, absolutely furious that her dad hadn’t stopped the whole Robby thing from happening. On prom night, she had blown right through all her mother’s defenses. Her mother was lame—but she did worry and nag and insist on checking in. Pathetic flailing done with good intention ought to count for something, right?

A steel band tightened across Brynn’s chest. Both her parents had failed her for their own stupid reasons. And her mother had made everything worse by leaving. How could she just leave?

Brynn struggled to hold back her tears. She should be rejoicing that her ridiculous mother was out of the way and hated herself for caring that she wasn’t here to talk to. To hold her.

Her father said, “You okay, pumpkin?”

“Sure.” She dug deep and gave him a big smile, looking him in the eye. And there, below his concern for her, Brynn spied his self-pity. Somehow all this—his asshole business partner, Robby the dick who lured his little girl to the party, Reid the son who ratted him out, his wife who walked out—was all about him. Sure, her father worried about Brynn, about his kids, about all of them, but only when it was convenient, when he had time, when it was easy, when it was too late. Even now, after Robby was finished with her, had thrown her away, made a fool of her, even now her father wouldn’t stand up for her because it was too fucking hard.

Brynn’s anger lit up inside her. She swung her feet to the floor and crushed the tears on her face with her knuckles. She stood.

“Call him.”

Her dad sat up. “Call who?”

“Robert.”

“I don’t think that will help.”

“It won’t help you.”

He frowned, confused. “Brynn, sit down. Let’s talk.”

She clenched her fists at her sides to stop herself from attacking him. “Call him! Tell him his son is a dangerous asshole! Tell him his son would’ve raped me if the fire alarm hadn’t gone off!”

Her dad jumped up and took her by the shoulders.

Brynn threw him off. “Don’t touch me!”

He held his hands up. “Okay, take it easy. I just don’t see the point of talking to Robert.”

“The point, Dad? The point is for you to stand up for me!” Her head was about to explode, so she stomped off toward the front door and back again. Brynn stood in front of her father, hanging on to the shreds of her self-control. Pain leaked from her; anger held it in. Her father watched with a lost expression that made her even more furious. Her throat squeezed shut and her voice came out as a thin scream. “Don’t you care?”

“Brynn.” He lifted his arms to hold her. She pulled back. She didn’t need one of his pathetic hugs. “I said don’t touch me!”

Brynn spun away and flew from the room. She ran half stumbling up the stairs, blinded by her tears, and locked herself in her bedroom. She flung open her closet door and yanked a bag off the shelf. She couldn’t stay in this house with him one more second. She just couldn’t.





CHAPTER 36

Suzanne held the door for Iris as they entered the Rockbridge County Library. They passed the circulation desk, magazine racks, and book displays, and found seats side by side at an empty table. Suzanne started her laptop and opened Google Earth in map view. She dropped a pin at the Yankee Horse Ridge parking area.