Page 133 of More Than Pen Pals

“I’m fine.” Relatively speaking. “The heat was out in my apartment when I got home last night, so Shannon and I went to a hotel.”

I finally notice the light blinking on the answering machine. There’s no doubt who the message is from.

“I’ll give you Ash’s number, but it won’t do you any good for a while. He left here a few minutes ago to go confront Dad and try to force him to tell him what he said to you.”

Nausea settles in my belly. “Ohhh, that’s not good.”

“What’s not good?” Shannon whispers in my ear.

I shake my head at him.

“I tried to stop him,” Randall said, “because I’m afraid of what he might do, but, well, he’s bigger than me. And he’s so worked up about not being able to find you. When I realized he wasn’t going to listen to me, I said I’d go with him to confront Dad, but he made me stay here in case you called. We’ve been so worried.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“I want to hear what happened, if you’re willing to tell me before telling my brother. But first I need to call Mom and see if she can head Ash off at the pass.”

“Okay, call her and then call me back.” I hang up.

I tell Shannon what Randall said and then chew my fingernails while my brother rubs circles on my back as we wait.

When Randall calls, I tell him everything his dad said to me in the hallway. Then I say, “I don’t want to throw you under the bus, but if I do, I can’t see Ash again. It’s an impossible situation.”

“It’s not impossible. I don’t care what Dad does to me. I’m tired of him controlling my life. To tell you the truth, while I’m enraged he did that to you, this isn’t a bad thing for me. I’m not sure I would’ve ever had the courage to leave the firm otherwise.”

“But your family …” He shouldn’t lose them over this.

“My family, other than Dad, will stick by me.”

“Even your mom?”

“Especially Mom. As soon as she figured out what happened last night, she rushed down here a few minutes behind me to find you. She stayed until after midnight, hoping you’d call.”

Dread fills me. “And then she had to go home to your dad.”

“Don’t worry about my mom,” he says. “She can take care of herself. She has decades of experience, though for the life of me I can’t understand why she puts up with him.”

sixty-four

Iscreech into the circle drive in front of my parents’ sprawling home and storm up the steps. The door opens before I can pound on it, and my mother slips out onto the porch.

“Leslie’s fine. Randall talked to her.”

I sway on my feet and Mom reaches out to steady me. Then she wraps her arms around me and holds me tight.

“He’s not here, anyway,” she says. “He left for the club ten minutes ago.”

I’m not surprised that the morning after my father blows my world apart, he goes about his Sunday as usual on the golf course. I let go of Mom and say, “Then why did you come out here to stop me?”

“Your sisters don’t need to know about this. You can come in, but if you see them, don’t say a word to them about what happened.”

“No, I’m not coming in. I’m going to her.”

“Call and see if she’s home first. For all you know, she’s on her way here to you, or she’s at your brother’s place.”

We go inside and I close myself in Mom’s office to make the call. I memorized Leslie’s number the day Wendy gave it to me. My heart races as the phone rings.

“Hello?”

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