Chasing Abby(21)

My dad narrows his eyes and nods his head. “Where she’s safe? Sure, that’s exactly why you want to live with her. Do you two really think I’m that stupid?”
Caleb and my mom stand from the sofa at the same time, but I speak first. “We don’t think you’re stupid, Dad. We thought you’d be more understanding.”
“You thought I’d understand that my eighteen-year-old daughter and her eighteen-year-old boyfriend want to live together?” His glare is seething with a rage I’ve never seen on my father. “You thought I’d understand that you seem determined to repeat your parents’ mistakes?”
The room is so quiet after my father speaks these words, I can almost hear the tears welling up in my eyes. Everyone in this room knows what “parents” my father is referring to. And this is the first clue about their story that I’ve ever been given. And it only saddens me more that he used this piece of information to hurt me.
“How could you say that to me?” I whisper.
“Abby, you don’t know what you’re proposing. This is bigger than just picking a roommate,” my mom says, reaching for my arm, but I push her away. “Your father’s right. Accidents happen and you’re not physically or emotionally prepared to deal with something like that. You two need to finish college first before you start a life together.”
“I’m not emotionally prepared? I’m too fragile?” I shake my head. “You two don’t know me at all. Maybe I am more like my other parents.”
“Your father didn’t mean that.”
I grab Caleb’s hand and pull him toward the front door as Amy follows behind us. “That’s okay, because I think it’s time for me to find out for myself.”

Chapter 10 - Caleb



I CARRY THE STACK of photos for Abby as we cross the bank parking lot toward the ’Cuda. Her hands were shaking while we were inside that vault and the last thing I need is for her to drop the pictures in the middle of the parking lot and get hit by a car as she tries to pick them up. Yeah, I know it sounds totally far-fetched. But I’m in charge of keeping Abby safe now. And I can’t rule out the possibility of her being mowed down by a car, now that every possible thing that could go wrong today has gone wrong.
I knew her dad and mom wouldn’t take the news about Abby and me moving in together well, but I didn’t expect them to deliver such a low blow. Though I know her father said what he said out of desperation, it doesn’t excuse the fact that he hurt her. If he weren’t her father, I would have punched him in the throat. But he is Abby’s father. The only father she’s ever known, until today. And he’s just scared of losing her.
I open the passenger door for Abby and she slides in. I hand her the stack of photos, then I round the back of the car and get inside. We sit in silence for a moment as she stares at the picture on the top of the stack.
I can’t f*cking believe Chris Knight is Abby’s dad. If we hadn’t seen their family portrait first, I might have believed it was just a picture her birth parents had snapped of a celebrity holding Abby. But we did see that family photo. And the only teenage girl in that picture had brown hair. The baby in that picture with Chris Knight is clearly Abby with her golden blonde hair and wide brown eyes. I’ve seen a million baby pictures of Abby, but this one definitely puts the others in perspective.
She moves the photo on top to the bottom of the stack and the next picture is of the brown-haired girl from the family photo. She’s obviously younger in this one, about eight or nine years old. She’s clutching a picture to her chest. It’s a photo of Abby I’ve seen before. This one seems to be too much for her. She turns the entire stack of photos over so they’re facedown in her lap.