I pull open the file drawer and start flipping through. Each one is neatly labeled, probably by some secretary. Insurance, bills, mortgage, boat, marina…it goes on and on. I open the one labeled bills, hoping to find something connecting him back to the East Point Suites, but there isn’t anything. It’s just the basics; cable, electricity, security… I shove it back in and pull the drawer out as far as it will go. In the very back, tucked against the wood is a single envelope. Across the front is the name Ezra, in a woman’s script.
I dip my fingers inside and frown. It’s a piece of paper—with flowers along the edges.
“Ez, I’m glad you didn’t show up tonight. It’s the sign I’ve needed that this should end. It already ended years ago, rightfully. A stupid, impulsive, one-night stand isn’t enough to ruin the lives that we’ve built. Courtney is pregnant. You’re building a family—a life. Both of us would be idiots to risk what we have to reclaim a little bit of the past. I could never live with myself if this came out, and you know he’d never forgive you.”
I stare at my mother’s name. Courtney. Any surprise that he cheated on her while she was pregnant, presumably with me, fails to come.
I flip over the note, but there’s nothing else. No signature. No date. I read it, again. He was supposed to show up somewhere to meet this woman, presumably a married woman. It’s typical that my dad wouldn’t just try to destroy one family, but two.
Asshole.
I take a photo of the note with my phone and put it back where I found it. I search another drawer but there’s nothing else. He’s a packrat but not a fool. I’m almost surprised he left that note for evidence.
r /> I hear the double beep of the front door chiming, letting me know that someone entered the house. I quickly close the drawers and cover my tracks. I wait for his footsteps on the stairs, but they don’t come, instead echoing off the hardwoods just down the hall. Panicked, I spin around and face the printer in the cabinet behind the desk.
“You’re home early.”
“Brice had some fundraising event in the city, and Jason could only meet for drinks.” He crosses the threshold. “Looking for something?”
“Just came down to check on the printer. I had an essay to print.” I lie.
“For the University application?”
Shit. “No. Homework.”
He frowns. “Did you turn it in?”
“Not yet.”
“The deadline is in a week. I’m not sure why you insist on pushing everything to the last possible moment.”
“I don’t know, Dad,” I say, running my hand through my hair. “I’ll get to it.”
He eyes me. “You look like shit. Did you go out last night after the ceremony?”
We’d barely spoken on the ride back from the city, and I’d gone straight to my room when we got home.
I laugh. “A good father wouldn’t have to ask that.”
“Watch your tone—"
“Whatever.”
I stand and push the chair back hard enough that it hits the cabinet. A picture frame tips over and lands with a clatter. I walk around the desk and he grabs my arm. There was a time when my dad was bigger than me, but not now. We’re eye to eye and I’ve put on weight. I’ve fast. And there’s a flicker in his eye that says he knows it, too.
He releases me and sighs. “I know you don’t believe it, but I’m trying my best here.”
“I’ve seen your best, Dad, this isn’t it.”
“I get it. I was absent a lot. I work too much. Fuck, I play too much. I tried turning that around this fall and it’s still not enough.”
“You’re right, riding my ass all the time about football and college isn’t enough. Harassing my friends—telling the girl I like that she’s not good enough for me? If that’s you trying, no thanks. I’d rather be on my own.”
His eyes widen. “You’re talking about Kenley? She’s a sweet girl, but the last thing you want to do is get tied up with a girl like that. She’ll want something you can’t give her. Trust me. I know.”
I hate hearing her name come out of his mouth. I snarl, “You know nothing about her.”
He laughs. “I know she’s smart, relentless, pestering. She’s not the kind of girl that takes no for an answer and that’s the kind of girl that’s good in bed. She’s fun. Exciting. A little mysterious and other than a good fuck, absolutely nothing but trouble.”