The Last Invitation (54)
Okay, no. She and Liam weren’t quite on the same page about this. “Maybe leaving isn’t a bad idea, in general, but not alone on a bus.”
Liam stared at her. “Why the change?”
Rather than chime in, Kennedy snorted. Gabby found that more annoying than the snide tone.
“Things have been . . .” Gabby tried to send Liam a silent message. “Weird around here.”
Kennedy snorted again. “See? She wants me gone so you two can—”
“That’s enough,” Liam said, sounding very much like a dad, which was becoming a habit for him. “Your mother is right.”
“Of course you’d side with her.”
To his credit, Liam didn’t flinch. “Your mom witnessed an accident today where the man died.”
“What?” That quick Kennedy’s mood shifted. Her voice morphed from dramatic teen anger to one tinged with genuine concern. “Were you hurt again?”
“No, baby. I’m fine.” Gabby cupped Kennedy’s cheeks, desperate not to burden her daughter with one more worry, then gave her a quick kiss on the head. “But between the break-in and the accident, nothing feels safe here right now. I need you away, in school, with security, and not near DC.”
Kennedy slouched as if some of the fury ran out of her. “Is that really why? You told me that you weren’t together, but you were kissing.”
“No, we weren’t,” Liam said.
Gabby shook her head. “That’s not what you saw.”
For a few seconds, Kennedy’s gaze traveled back and forth, assessing and decrypting. “You’re pretty transparent. The way you two feel for each other.” She visibly swallowed, looking young and vulnerable and too breakable. “I see it now.”
That was not a road Gabby wanted to venture down. “That’s in your head.”
Kennedy rolled her eyes. “Right. I’m the one with the problem.”
Gabby decided she preferred angry Kennedy to suffering Kennedy. “Your attitude needs a lot of work.”
“But we agree I should go, so I’m leaving.” She picked up the bag she’d packed and slung it over her shoulder. Her roller bag was in her other hand and ready to go.
Some of the tension had eased, but the energy in the room felt off. Awkward and uncomfortable. Liam was the one to break through it. “I’ll take you back to school.”
Kennedy shrugged. “No thanks.”
“You don’t get a choice,” he said.
“And you don’t get a say,” Kennedy shot back. “You’re not my father.”
“Yeah, I fucking am.” No anger or yelling. Liam stated it as a fact and made it clear he intended to stake a claim sooner rather than later. “Technically.” He hesitated, clearly realizing the importance of what he’d just said. “So tone it down, and no more yelling and swearing at your mom.”
“You just swore at me.” Kennedy sounded stunned at the thought.
He shot her a half-smile. “Sorry about that. You’re not the only one trying to adjust to a new reality here.”
“Thanks for that, Mom.” But she didn’t sound angry either. More like she, too, was testing out the new world and finding it confusing but maybe not awful.
Gabby was ready for a few hours without either of them. “You two can spend the drive bonding over how awful I am.”
Kennedy nodded. “Okay.”
“That works,” Liam said at the same time. “But you should call one of your friends. Have them come over. I’ll be back by morning.”
“I don’t want to involve anyone else.” Her friends had offered whatever she needed—distance or support—ever since she found Baines’s body in his study. She wasn’t great at reaching out and asking for help. They interpreted her inability as a plea for space when she really didn’t know what she needed other than a few answers.
Liam looked like he was going to reach out and touch her arm but stopped. “I’m not comfortable with you being alone right now. Not today.”
“I’ll be in the car while you two figure this part out.” Kennedy took off, without a goodbye or a hug.
Gabby tried not to react to being dismissed without so much as a hug. Her emotions bounced all over the place, and she tried to remember the sensations were even worse for Kennedy.
Gabby put on a smile for Liam. “You better go. With the mood she’s in, she’ll probably hot-wire your car.”
“I’ll talk to her. She’s wound up and misinterpreted—”
“Thank you.”
Gabby smiled as Liam picked up his gym bag and searched for his keys. It disappeared the minute he walked out the door. She welcomed the silence. She planned to fill it with research.
She needed to be ready because she had no intention of being the next victim.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Jessa
Three days after the big office partnership surprise, Jessa wanted to go back to Faith’s house, crawl into bed, and hide. Life came at her in flashes. She got thrown from one end of the spectrum to the other—shocked, lost in horror, as she watched a man get hit by a car, then flooded with happiness at finally meeting her goal at work.
The up-and-down exhausted her. But rest and hiding weren’t possible. Tonight called for a celebration . . . or so Faith insisted. She’d reserved a small party room at one of their favorite Italian restaurants in Bethesda. It was supposed to be a surprise, but when Jessa refused to change back out of her lounge clothes after work and into something party-like, Faith rolled her eyes and spilled the secret.