“No, Dad. It’s nothing like that. I’m just…humiliated. That’s what it is, okay? I just need to be alone.”
“Please let me in. I promise I won’t get mad. Just give me five minutes.”
“Whatever.” She huffs a sigh and unlocks the door.
The dark wood floor of her bedroom is strewn with clothes, and more are piled in a gray chair in the corner. A strand of LED lights hanging behind her dresser casts a purple glow. And on her queen-sized bed, there’s a mountain of used tissues.
She flops down next to the pile, then curls up and rests her head on her arm.
“Will you order pizza?” she asks.
“Sure, I can do that. You want the cheesy bread, too?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s got you so upset, ma crevette?”
I dump the clothes off the gray chair and move it next to her bed so I can sit down while we talk.
Giselle sits up and crosses her legs. “Did you go see the woman you rescued from the car?”
I furrow my brow. “I did yesterday. Why?”
She shrugs. “I saw a picture of you on Twitter and it said you were going to see her. Do you like her?”
“I do, but Giselle, no one will ever be more important to me than you. Don’t ever worry about that, okay?”
“As long as you’re not moving in with her and her husband to become a throuple.”
I shake my head, cursing my ex-wife. “Never ever. If I date a woman, and that’s a big if, it will just be me and her, and it’ll never come between us. Until you go off to college, you and me are going to live right here, just the two of us.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“It’s not that I don’t want you to date anyone. I just don’t want it to be serious immediately.”
“I get that. You have my word. Is that why you’re upset?”
She pulls her knees up to her chest, sighs and looks away. “I sent a picture to a guy from school. He said no one else would see it, but he lied. He sent it out to everyone.”
My stomach clenches. “What kind of a picture?”
She shrugs. “I’m sure you can imagine, Dad.”
My heart hits the floor. Fuck. It sickens me to think of my daughter sending a nude photo to anyone, and then for it to be shared with others? I want to crush that boy’s bones to dust with my bare hands.
I close my eyes, forcing myself to keep my promise about not getting mad. Elbows on my knees, I ask, “Was it a nude photo?”
“God, this is so embarrassing.”
“Just tell me and we can deal with it, whatever it is.”
She buries her face in her knees and says, “It was shirtless. So I guess it looked like I was naked because you couldn’t see anything but my stomach up. I had pants on, though.”
She’s crying again. I want to throw a chair through a window because I’m so fucking pissed at the kid who shared her photo, but that’s not what she needs right now.
“How old is this guy?” I ask.
If he’s eighteen or older, the police will be on his doorstep within an hour, but I don’t tell her that.
“He’s sixteen and we’re in the same grade. But Dad, please don’t go to his house. Or call his parents. I don’t want this to be any worse than it already is.”
I sit back in the chair, considering my options. “He needs to face the consequences of his actions.”
“If you want me to talk to you about stuff, you can’t run off and tell everyone’s parents.” Giselle’s look is pleading. “If you do, I won’t trust you next time.”
I stand, still wanting to punch that kid in the face. “Why did he do that?” I ask out loud. “Such a dick move.”
“He said he liked me, but…” Giselle’s voice catches. “It was all a lie. He was tricking me the whole time.”
“I want to pull his teeth out with pliers,” I say in a level tone. “I’m not going to, but I really, really want to.”
She almost smiles. “He deserves it.”
“I’m sorry. You’re a beautiful, strong and smart person and you didn’t deserve this. No one does. But it’s especially hard to see my amazing daughter hurting.”
“I called Mom and tried to talk to her about it. That was stupid of me.”
I lower my brows. “What did she say?”
“She put me on speaker with her boyfriend and girlfriend or whatever I’m supposed to call them. She said all of them love me and they all wanted to help.”
I cringe. “That’s bullshit. God, I’m sorry.”
After a pause, she looks at me and asks, “You aren’t mad at me for sending the picture?”
I shrug. “It’s done now. It was a hard lesson for you.”
“Am I grounded?”
I look at her red swollen eyes. The poor kid has already suffered enough.