Page 63 of Endless

“I think I am.”

“Good.” He looked over and smiled. “Dare I ask if we can expect to still see you after the wedding?”

I winced and looked away. It was deserved. Hurting my family had never been my intention, but it didn’t change that I did. “Yeah,” I said. “I think so. I—” I took a breath and stood, putting my drink to the side. “I’m really sorry, Dad. For leaving that way. I know I apologized, but it’s different in person.”

His brow furrowed. “Isolde, I’m not angry with you. Your mother and I want to make sure you’re okay. If being away from here was what you needed, that’s fine. We missed you, but we mostly wanted to make sure you were safe.”

“I know.”

Dad held out his arms and I stepped in, enjoying the hug. “If you want to find a shitty apartment to live in, I’m sure we can find one here in Clarity Coast. You don’t have to go all the way across the country.”

“You know about that?” I gasped. “I made sure to keep it hidden.”

“Not very well,” he chuckled. “And if you need money you can ask. Just because you have to wait for your trust doesn’t mean we won’t take care of you.”

“Does Mom know?”

He shook his head. “She doesn’t. If she had, she would have marched out there and dragged you back. You didn’t want or need that. But I kept tabs on you.”

All I could do was smile. If he’d told me this even a few days ago, I would have been furious. Now, I was glad. “Thank you. And I don’t know if I’ll want to live here, but I think I’m past the shitty apartment stage. I’ll need to get a better job,” I said with a laugh. “If anyone still wants to hire me after the way I left.”

“Why wouldn’t they?”

“I cut everything and almost everyone off pretty harshly. There’s a year gap in my resume now where I worked at a bar, which wasn’t that bad, actually. But I can see people giving me the side eye if I try to come back. Besides… you know.”

Dad looked out at the ocean mildly. “If a single employer chooses not to hire you because of that rotten mayonnaise stain Warren somehow still calls a friend, I’ll crush them like the insects they are.”

I burst out laughing, drawing eyes from everywhere. “You can’t do that.”

“I can and I will. It’s discrimination.”

Unable to keep the smile off my face, I swatted him on the arm. “Well, let me figure out what I even want to do first before you start lobbing lawsuits up and down the coast, okay?”

“That, I can do.” He gave me a mock salute and headed down to the beach. Given he was dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt, I didn’t think he would join in on the game, but I would pay money to see my stepfather call Beau a rotten mayonnaise stain to his face.

A question bubbled behind my lips. “Dad?”

He turned at the bottom of the steps.

“You never liked him. Why didn’t you say anything?” Part of me wanted to cry and demand why no one told me I was being tossed around like a rag doll. Another part of me wanted to think I wasn’t alone in my delusion.

“I did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

He took a step toward me and smiled sadly. “When you first met Beau, I said something. But you were happy, and I don’t think it fully registered. After a while, I stopped because I didn’t want the only thing for us to talk about was how I hated your boyfriend. So I tried to make it clear how I felt in other ways, hoping one day you would see what I saw. But I wish it hadn’t been so painful for you.”

I didn’t stop him when he walked away this time.

All these emotions felt like the tides. They came in waves. Up and down. I felt good. Then the horror of my own blindness rose up and threatened to crush me.

Straightening my spine, I went back and laid on the chaise. It happened. No amount of beating myself up would change the past.

As much as I wished, I wasn’t a time traveler or a wizard. I couldn’t snap my fingers and make myself less angry ordevastated with myself, but I could choose not to wallow. At least for today.

Where the hell was Rin?

The house was big, but not big enough for her to take this long to get there and back. My phone was in our suite where I left it. I downed the last of my drink, enjoying the mild brain freeze in the heat before I went to grab it.

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