Sadie.
The letter is followed up with ten digits—her phone number.
In the background, I can hear Brian stomping around in his work boots. He’s upstairs now, I think. Or maybe he’s downstairs. Who the hell knows? I don’t think I’m processing anything correctly at the moment. Everything seems muffled, like it’s coming from fucking far away. I read over Sadie’s note again. And again. I can’t believe it.
My dad? What did he have to do with it? He said something to Rea? He forced her to break up with me? What the heck does it mean when Sadie says Rea was trying to protect me, herself, and her parents? I guess that’s what she meant about calling.
“Hey, mate, I think the work needed is a little more intense than I figured,” Brian says from behind me.
I whirl, clutching the letter in my hand so tightly that the paper is probably both moist and crinkled. Actually, not moist because that’s a bad word choice for more than one reason. Soaked is probably better because I’m sweating bullets like crazy over here.
“That’s fine,” I mutter. “Whatever you think.”
“Umm…this is the part where most people call me on my bullshit and bargain.”
I shake my head distractedly. “Whatever it costs.” Then, I pause for a bit before amending that and saying, “Whatever you think is fair.”
“Awww, jeez, mate. Laying it on thick now,” Brian says as he runs a hand through his long black hair. “Alright. You drive a hard bargain. We’ll stick to the original deal. I can have a crew here tomorrow, but you might want to have someone wrap up all that furniture, though.”
“Alright,” I say numbly.
“Or I can send some wrap over with the guys. Might cost a little extra, though.”
“That’s fine.”
Brian probably thinks I’m a little bit crazy. Or a whole lot of crazy. He’d probably think so even without my blank stare and automatic responses. He’s kind enough to shake my hand again, without breaking any bones this time, before letting himself out.
I walk over to the couch and collapse against it, except I miss because my head feels totally spaced at the moment, so I ungraciously slide down the front to end up in a heap on the floor. I nearly bite my tongue clean in half, and I groan at the taste of copper in my mouth. A quick fingertip to my outstretched tongue proves it’s still there, and thankfully, in one piece.
The urge to dial Sadie’s number and ask her to explain herself is pretty strong, but she’s right. If my dad did something, then it’s a conversation we need to have between us. It’s not right that Sadie, or even Rea, would have to tell me.
Sadie’s also right about Rea. Rea is so good and kind that she would never want to hurt another person. She might have given me a hard time ever since I got here, but that was just to keep me at arm’s length. I was the one who showed up and forced my presence on her, unwanted and uninvited. I can’t forget that. I made demands on her, on her time, and I wasn’t even polite about it. She’d buried what she felt because she wasn’t allowed to feel it. She couldn’t let herself feel it.
Because of my family.
Because of something they did.
I don’t give a flying pig of a fuck that it’s early in the morning, and my dad is probably in business meetings. Or rather, important meetings, because all of his meetings are important. He’s going to take my call, and he’s going to explain to me what the heck he did. He was the one who told me to get my shit together, so technically, it’s because of him that I came here. I guess, ultimately, it’s his fault that now, the truth is here, written down plainly for me to see. All without being entirely plain. Without being plain at all.
My mind is whirring and jumping through a thousand scenarios, all of them terrible. What could my dad possibly have threatened Rea with that she had to break up with me and move across the country to protect herself and her family? I’ve never been more ashamed to be a Deroy in my life. I can’t just sit here on my ass, literally, and keep guessing at this terrible shit. I have to know.
I punch in my dad’s number, and since it’s me, he answers. No matter what he’s doing, he always makes time for my calls, even if it’s just to tell me he’ll call me back.
“Kayden,” he says in a loving, fatherly tone that says he’s happy to hear from me.
I know that can’t last because even though I wanted to break him in softly so I could get answers, I find myself getting straight—as straight as could ever be—to the point. “What the heck did you say to Rea to make her leave me?”