Sam: Are you okay?
Delta: I will be.
... The text lines continue to appear and disappear.
Sam: We’ll talk tomorrow.
I let my head fall back against the headrest. “Please drive.” The tears fall, waving my vision as a hairline fracture snakes its way through my heart.
Once home, my heels click over the shoveled and salted walkway that leads up to the house. All I want to do is bury myself in my bed and sleep away the pain. I unlock the door and curse at seeing Duncan and Rose snuggled up on the couch.
“What are you going home this early?” Duncan asks.
“What happened?” Rose stands.
I see her concerned expression, and my composure breaks. Tears flow anew as I tell them about his mother and the conversation on the balcony.
“Oh. She is not getting away with this,” Rose growls.
“That’s bullshit, Little Bit. Please tell me you know that.” Duncan hugs me to his chest as Rose strokes my hair.
I hiccup.
“I-I don’t fit into his world.”
“That isn’t his world.” Flynn’s quiet voice cuts through the air in the room like a samurai sword. “We tend to live in our heads. Our perception is different. Finding people we can trust, who accept us as we are is rare. You’re good at that. I can see why you’ve become his person. I was ... jealous. But even I can see how happy he’s made you. Don’t punish him for his mother’s ignorance.”
“How can I place myself between them?”
“She did that. Not you,” Rose says.
“I don’t know,” I whisper.”
“Come on, let’s warm you up with some hot chocolate while I talk sense into you.” Rose leads me over into the kitchen, and I do my best to turn my brain down.
SAM
“Where’s Delta?” Dad asks as we meet up in the crowded room.
“I don’t know. She said there was a family emergency and she had to leave.”
Dad’s eyebrows come together. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m not sure. She said we’d talk tomorrow.”
“Funny, your mother didn’t mention that to me after they spoke on the balcony.”
“What?”
“Delta didn’t tell you?”
“No?” It didn’t feel right. Why would she leave after talking to my mother? What had she said to her? Mom could be ruthless when she wanted to be, and she’d made her feelings about Delta clear.
“Dad?”
“I’m one step ahead of you. Meet me in the second parlor. We’ll get to the bottom of this together.”
I make my way to the side of the house, closed to guests. The couch holds no appeal. I pace back and forth, waiting for them to appear. I’m snapping my fingers by the time my mom and dad enter.