Page 96 of Say It Isn't So

I supposed I’d only helped him in his mission, making it easier to use Bianca for his own personal gain. Unfortunately, though, she was going to have to learn the hard way that in some situations there was no life preserver.

This would be one of those situations.

And trust me, I knew the feeling well. I was currently drowning in my own misery, my own guilt over everything that had just passed between us. But this was one of those times there was no saving it and my heart actually ached for my daughter.

I turned around and slipped back into the chair she had pulled out for me not long ago. I pushed the plate aside. I couldn’t be bothered eating now. Instead, I dropped my head and brought my hand to my heart. A lone tear rolled down my cheek.

“Oh, Regina,” I cried out, looking up as if she could help. “Watch over our girls. Especially Bianca.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Knox

Bianca:It didn’t go well. It was such a mistake.

Bianca:He’s being totally unreasonable.

Bianca:I’m done, I’ve had it up to my eyeballs. I will not let him do this to me or act like you’re the bad guy here.

Bianca:He also can’t pretend like what I’m feeling isn’t valid. It’s like he wants to run my life. I can’t be there anymore, Knox. I just can’t be around him.

It had been a half hour since her messages came in and I’d just seen them. Now, Bianca was not usually a serial texter, so I knew this was bad. Instead of texting back, because I recognized a spiral when I read one, I decided to call her.

No answer.

I tried again, but still got her voicemail.

I was about to just text her back when a call came in. Only it wasn’t Bianca.

It was Rina.

I hesitated to answer it. Okay, so maybe that made me a bad guy, but come on, give me a break, would you? I was trying to do the right thing by Bianca and she clearly needed me. I’d said I would always be there for her when she needed me and I’d meant it. I’d never broken a promise to her and I wasn’t about to start now.

But something told me to answer Rina’s call. It sounded a lot like the villain who’d told me to cheat on a math test in high school. But that was unimportant and a story for another day.

Deciding to go against my better judgment, I answered. I didn’t get to say anything, though, because the loud music on her end had me pulling the phone away from my ear for a beat before putting it back. “Rina?” I finally asked, practically screaming into the phone. I didn’t think there was any way she could hear me with all that noise. Geez, where was she?

Her voice came in raspy and monotone as she answered, “Oh, you answered. How nice. I didn’t think you would.”

I shook my head, trying to make sense of what was going on. “Rina, where are you? It’s really loud and I can hardly hear you.”

“I went to a bar. You know the one where they let you stand on the top of the tables and dance like no one’s watching. Yeah, that one!” She got louder at the end and let out a hiccup. All right, she was drunk.

“That’s a lot of bars,” I gritted out, annoyed that she’d be so foolish as to go to a bar in the city and get drunk. I would have bet she was alone to boot. “Where are you? Are you alone?” I demanded answers.

“Yes, I’m alone. No thanks to you.” She sounded like she was either on the verge of tears or about to be sick.

“Where are you?” I tried again. “I’m coming to pick you up.” I grabbed my keys from the fishbowl and made my way to the door, hoping she’d give me the name of the place.

I stopped short when she screamed into the phone, saying, “Wait! I don’t want you to come get me.”

Clearly, I was meant to pull my hair out tonight. What was it with chicks? It seemed like they didn’t know what they wanted. They all drove me up a wall sometimes. I mean, you’d think this was exactly Rina wanted—for me to come and pick her up, us locked in a car together where she could continue her crusade to convince me that we were meant to be.

“And why the hell not?” I practically barked into the phone, annoyed that she was pulling this childish behavior. We weren’t teenagers anymore and it wasn’t okay.

I wasn’t good at math (as we discussed before), but I happened to know that a woman alone at a bar + booze + intoxication + slimy men + a strange (read: maybe slimy) driver = not a splendid idea.

That was why this wasn’t even up for discussion anymore.

---