Page 63 of King of Lies
“Yes?”
“Are you …?”
“Drunk? Why yes, I am. Isn’t it lovely?”
“Umm … no. Why are you drunk?”
“Because my life is a shambles!” she shouts.
“Shhh.”
“My mother hates me, my brothers don’t have time for me, and my dad just …” she sobs. “Died.”
“Oh honey,” I whisper as I pull her into my arms. “It’ll be all right. You have me. I know I can’t replace your dad, but I’d like to be your friend.”
“But I was so awful to you!”
“No, you have every right to be mad. I’m sorry your mother took her anger at me out on you. That wasn’t right and you should know that.”
“I guess …” she says, looking away from me.
“No. I mean it. That’s on her, not on you or me,” I tell her and I hope it sinks in. “You have me.”
“But for how long?” she asks. “Mum doesn’t want you here and she always gets her way.”
“Well, we’ll just see about that,” I tell her. “Now let’s get you cleaned up.”
“No! She can’t see me like this,” she says and she’s right. The queen would have a field day if she saw her daughter with mascara running down her face and drunk as a lord.
“No, no,” I say, trying to calm her down. “I’m a little bit bigger than you but I think you’ll fit in some of my clothes. Let’s get you washed up and sobered up and I’ll put some clothes out for you. We’ll paint our nails and put masks on our faces and pretend we’re having a middle of the day slumber party.”
“Is it wrong if I say I’m sad it’s pretend?” she asks as I gently shove her toward the shower.
“Well, we’re really doing it,” I tell her. “So it’s only kind of pretend. Just to cover our butts with your mom or any of her henchmen.”
“Henchmen,” she laughs. “She’d hate to hear them called that but it’s exactly what they are.”
“Now, to the shower with you!” I laugh and push her into the bathroom. “Wash that makeup off and I’ll lay out some cute loungewear for you.”
“Okay,” she sings, happy again as she shuts the door behind her.
I rush back into my dressing room and grab a pair of black leggings, a lavender lace trimmed tank and an off the shoulder light blue sweater. It’s cute and fun and looks a lot like what I’m already wearing. I lay it out on the bed and then run back to the sitting room and call for a small tea for two of American coffee and cookies.
Everyone is going to find out that Dahlia is with me so there’s no sense in hiding it. The only thing I am going to hide is that she’s spiraling, but hopefully I can keep her on the straight and narrow until Rhys gets home. She needs him to be more active in her life. I would find Taylor but I’m honestly not sure how I feel about him. Sometimes he’s awful to me and sometimes he defends me. I’m not sure which is the real him and I’m afraid to find out.
I hear the shower shut off and I make myself comfortable in the sitting room. I pretend that I’m reading again. I don’t want Dahlia to know that I’m freaking out inside.
“Hey,” she says softly, and she already sounds so much better. She’s barefoot in the outfit I left for her and with her hair up in a messy bun on top of her head. With her face free of makeup, she looks young. It’s hard to believe this girl is only eighteen. At that age, I was pretending that it didn’t hurt my feelings that no one asked me to the prom. Instead, my uncles and I got dressed up and went out to a nice dinner and a movie. Just not prom dressed up.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better,” she says. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”
“Sweep it away, Dahlia,” I tell her with a smile, so she knows I mean it. “It’s in the past. Now let’s get some nail polish and I have coffee and cookies coming. Sound good?”
“Sounds perfect.”
I hurry into the bathroom and pull my little bag of nail polishes from their hiding place. I have an orange, a blue, a red, a pink and a lavender. I hold up my bounty to show her when I enter the room.
