Page 26 of Unraveling with You

When he meets my wide, panicked eyes, Dad can’t bear to witness how small he’s made me feel for more than a millisecond. Darting away, he leaves me to stoop over my hand, babying it to my chest. Dad dashes to the kitchen for wine, followed by the rattle of keys and a resounding thud of the front door slamming.

I release a slow, heaving exhale. Every heartbeat rips through my aching wrist and hand, but at least I’m okay. I’m alive.

“Lily, are you out there?” Mom’s fear squeaks from her voice, even from behind the door.

“Coming.” I use my jacket sleeve to hurriedly dry my tears and wipe my nose before pulling my other sleeve over my shaking hand. It hurts so badly that I’m too afraid to move it yet and discover how badly he damaged me.

Crossing my unharmed arm over me to awkwardly open the door, I shuffle in with a weak smile.

“Lilibeth, did you two have another disagreement?”

Dropping myself into the armchair beside her, I feel too heavy to move. Too weak to carry Mom. If I didn’t know Dad was drinking away his guilt on the porch, I’d force myself to jump back up and kidnap Mom to safety.

But either way, Dad sucked out every last flicker of energy in my cells.

“Sweetheart, don’t mind him. You know how he is, and it’s best to just not even start.” She sighs. “You know his dad treated him so badly, and it really changed your father. Thankfully, your dad’s nothing like his dad with those tremendous, alcoholic rages, forcing poor Elizabeth to replace every window in the house. At least your dad’s not abusive.”

“He is,” I whisper.

Silence hangs between us.

Fuck, I shouldn’t have said that.

As expected, Mom sniffles through tears. I rush to her side, but she’s still smiling. “I’m so sorry, Lily. I know he says hurtful things when he gets mad. I swear he doesn’t mean it.”

My lip wobbles. She still has no idea the extent to which Dad has hurt me, but even this breaks her heart. What if I don’t know how badly he hurts her either?

Either way, she hasn’t stepped back far enough to realize what I have; no matter Dad’s reasoning, there’s no reason big enough to lay a hand on us.

All I can do is hug Mom. Hold her while I can. “I almost have enough saved to take you home to stay with me and take the stress off you both. I’m sorry it’s taking so long.”

“Oh, sweetheart, stop being so hard on yourself. Look at me.”

I can’t. Keeping my head bowed and my throbbing hand limp in my lap, I pull back from our hug. Mom tucks my hair behind my ear.

“Lilibeth, I want you to live for yourself, not for me. Keep working your way up at that restaurant like you’re so good at, and forget about the rest. I’m happy for you that you’ve made a new friend. Can you tell me about him?”

I swallow hard, still reeling from my dad. My relationship with Remington feels like an entirely separate world, and I’m struggling to reorient myself in all of space and time. “He’s really sweet. Sweeter than anyone I know - other than you.”

Mom laughs. “Are you pregnant?”

Nothing reorients me faster than that question. I sputter out a laugh. “Mom, no! I still have an IUD, anyway.”

She laughs. “You just have this glow about you, but maybe it’s because you’re in love.”

Biting my lip, I giggle. “I– um– Well, we just officially scheduled a real date, but I haven’t felt like this before.”

Mom’s genuine smile ages her backward. I’m so relieved to see it that I settle into our conversation with loosened shoulders - and Mom has plenty of questions about Remington.

By the time I’m heading out the door, I regain a bit of the confidence Dad stripped from me. He tracks me as I pass by on the porch.

“Bye, Lily,” he mutters.

“Bye,” I grumble.

“Wait.”

I freeze on instinct, but I immediately regret it. Dad stands from his porch chair, and I allow myself to peek back despite rushing faster to my car.

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