Page 87 of Love is Angry

“Yes, sir. We were the first to arrive and claim the cabin. There was some racing through the woods for that. To be honest, I think they could have organized it better, but I think they’ve had complaints from students with…let’s say, thinner skin.”

Dad sighs, shaking his head slowly. “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. Though I think it’s better. Hazing itself is absurd, a remnant of toxic masculinity that we should leave behind.”

“Wow, you sound just like your daughter.”

That makes the three of us burst into laughter. I feel like I can contribute to the conversation now that we’re the super awkward point of telling the stories of that particular night.

“It’s over, and I’m glad. Maybe the next round of freshmen will have more fun, I don’t know. It was kind of lame.”

“It had its moments,” Rhue replies, and I know exactly what he means. My blood simmers purely from a memory dartingthrough my head—if only I could get it to simmer like this when we’re alone.

Later, when he’s getting ready to leave, I walk him to the door. He pauses on the threshold, gazing into my eyes, making my skin flush hot again.

“Whenever you’re ready,” he murmurs. “Just say the word.” His lips brush mine, gently, sending tingles down my spine. Then, with a small smile and eyes dark as the sky, he disappears into the night.

Sighing, I close the door and turn around—to find Dad grinning.

He hesitates for a moment, then chuckles. “I guess I now see why Rhue was so quick to offer me a property to lease. How long have you two...you know...”

“Technically, we’re not. Yet. I think.”

He raises an eyebrow and shoots a meaningful glance at the door. “Technically? How about practically?”

“I guess you could say that,” I concede, smiling.

Dad thinks about it for a moment, then puts an arm around my shoulders. I walk with him back into the kitchen, where a pile of dishes is waiting for us.

“I can’t promise that I won’t go after Julian for what he did to you. Thinking of you being so close to that family while he’s still a free man—” A shadow crosses his face. “I don’t want to lose you, Maddie.”

“You will never lose me, no matter where I go, what I do, or who I’m with,” I reply and cuddle into his embrace. “Julian won’t win. With you and Rhue on my side, he can’t touch me.”

“Damn straight,” he says fiercely.

His fatherly love coats me in a warm glow as I close my eyes and thank the heavens that I’ve got this man in my life. I don’t know what I would have done without him. I don’t know how I lasted this long without his support. We wash the dishestogether, and for a moment the world seems normal—almost like nothing horrible ever happened.

Sunday morning winds lazily by with no more threats from Julian. Noelle comes over for brunch, and for a few precious hours the biggest challenge Dad and I have to face is his discomfort in having Noelle and I in the same place at the same time. It’s not like we’ve never met before; he’s been seeing her for a few years at least, but he’s always been very careful to keep his love life from affecting my upbringing. Now that I’m an adult, though, he’s run out of excuses, and between Noelle and I, we wore him down.

“I hope you’re both happy,” he says grouchily as we all sit down to eat.

“Thrilled,” I say, smiling at Noelle.

She’s in her early thirties, just about splitting the difference between dad’s age and mine. She’s got wavy blonde hair that turns to ringlets at the tips, and big, earnest, grey eyes. Even on a Sunday, she seems to carry herself with a professional air—which makes sense, since news never takes a weekend.

“Ecstatic,” she agrees, grinning back at me. “I swear, this man talks about you all the time! I was afraid I’d never get to spend any real time with you. Oh, hush, I know the reason—I’m just happy to be here, is all.”

Dad smiles, blushing happily. He’d barely opened his mouth to argue when she shushed him—they must know each other well. This becomes clearer and clearer as brunch stretches on—they know each other’s likes and dislikes, they finish each other’s sentences; they’re a unit, solid and symbiotic. It makes sense—they were friends for a long time before they started dating. Still, I’m beginning to feel like a bit of a third wheel in my own house by the time we’re clearing the dishes.

“Oh, no—nature calls,” Dad says with a grimace as I’m filling the sink with soapy water.

“I told you to go easy on the cheese,” Noelle says, kissing his cheek as he hustles past her. She chuckles as he disappears into the bathroom and gives me a meaningful look. “He never will go easy on the cheese.”

“It’ll be the death of him,” I agree, laughing.

She shoots a furtive look at the bathroom, then turns to me, her grey eyes intense and hard as steel.

“I needed to talk to you anyway,” she says, keeping her voice low. “I’m working on a story. It started as a background on the candidates, but it’s turning into something a lot more important. Your dad told me that you worked for the Echeveria family last year, and that you’re dating the son—I wouldn’t want to cause you any trouble, but I think this is extremely important. Are you willing to meet with me sometime this week? I know you have school, but I can come out to Ithaca. We can have lunch! My treat.”

My stomach turns to water and begins to boil. I believe this—more than telling Rhue, more than telling Roxanne, even more than telling my father—is what Julian was warning me not to do. If I tell her what I know, he’ll be exposed for the bastard that he is. Hell, all I’d have to do is get her copies of Roxanne’s diary. I don’t know if Laura would go for that, but Rhue—

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