My hands go numb, and I choke back tears. I didn’t know that part, but it wasn’t for Eric to tell me.
“Did Scarlett know?”
“No, I was hoping to meet with the two of you and tell you both. I think right now, I’m still trying to process what’s happened. I’ve been trying to keep everything under control, but when reality sinks in, I’ll fall apart. I just can’t believe Scarlett’s really gone.”
“I am so sorry, Dad,” I mutter again.
“I’m sorry too, baby girl.” His voice breaks, and my heart breaks too when I can hear him crying. “The um…funeral is next Tuesday. It’s in the morning. Eric’s made the arrangements for us.”
Funeral.It’s next Tuesday. I automatically feel weak.
“Is there anything I can do?”
“No. I think you need to follow Eric’s lead for the moment. The only thing that’s outstanding is the theater. Everyone thinks Scarlett’s on vacation, but she’s supposed to go back to work in a few weeks for the final rehearsals. I’ve been meaning to call them and tell them our concocted story that she wants to turn the job down, but I can’t do it.”
I didn’t know that’s what Eric wanted us to do, but it makes sense. Telling them Scarlett turned the job down is the only thing that could stop people from asking too many questions.
“My girl wouldn’t turn a job like that down,” Dad adds. His voice sounds stiff. As stiff as it did at Mom’s funeral before he launched his attack on me. I can just imagine his face. He’s right, though. I can’t blame him for being right. “So, the alternative is to see what happens next.”
“We have to tell them something.”
“Well, I suppose when you’re deemed safe, we can tell the truth, right?” he adds in the same rigid tone, and I can’t help but feel like he’d rather tell the truth now even if it were to put me in danger. “It’s hard to lie when that job meant everything to her. It feels like me trying to disgrace her name. It’s hard to lie when I know she will never be safe again, even if you are.”
I was right. The sting of his words cut me deep into my soul, and I tried to control the tremor shaking me from the inside out. The nagging voice inside my head I’ve pushed aside for the last eight years is saying he wishes I’d died, not Scarlett. It’s telling me he wishes her killers didn’t make the mistake they did.
Little does he know that I wish that too.
Like the coward I am, I don’t know if I can talk to him anymore, so it’s best to go before I break again.
“I’m going to have to go, Dad,” I stutter.
He’s silent again, and then I hear a sigh. “When can I see you, Summer?”
I almost thought I could do it sooner than Sunday, but I don’t think I can. This phone call was hard, and after hearing how he sounds, I know what I’m in for when he sees me. My father is a confrontational man, and I know he’s holding back with this conversation. He’s going to want to see me face to face to ask me why my sister is dead.
I need any strength I can gather before that happens.
“Sunday,” I reply.
“That’s so far away. Can’t you come sooner?”
“No,” I lie. “It needs to be Sunday.”
“Okay… I’ll see you then.” He sounds pissed, but I can’t care about that now.
He hangs up first, and I’m left with the phone still pressed to my ear with those tears clinging to my eyes. One tracks down my cheek, but the others hang on for dear life. It’s like they know that the moment they fall, I’ll be broken beyond repair.