Page 79 of Nothing to Win
“Your mom’s upstairs.”
Why did she say that?Twyla’s voice was laced with concern.Either she expected Gia to avoid her mother or go to her for support.It wouldn’t be the second.
That didn’t stop her mother popping into the hallway when Gia was just a dozen feet from her bedroom door.
“Gia,” her mother said, curious or worried?She wouldn’t put money on it.“You’re home.Are you okay?What happened?”
“Nothing happened,” she said.“I’m home.Am I not allowed to be home?”
“Yes, but you haven’t—”
“Goodnight, Mom.”
She went into her room and locked the door.Before Brogan, she rarely locked it, now she needed the barrier.Separation from her mom, the house, the world.
She hadn’t eaten but wasn’t hungry anymore.Read.She could read.On her phone?No.Doom scroll.No, her mood was melancholy enough.
When the knock came on her bedroom door, an hour or so must’ve passed.Her mom was patient, had to be with—she opened the door to her father, not her mother.
“Gianna, what happened?”
The guy was wide-eyed and too eager.
“Nothing.I’m home.This is supposed to be my home.”
“It is your home.You and Spurn done?”
“No,” she said, hanging on to her own fraying patience.“I haven’t stayed here for a while.Did I miss a rent payment?”
She didn’t pay rent and the sarcastic question visibly startled her father.Didn’t take him long to tense up.
“Who do you think you’re talking to?Is this what that man has turned you into?”
“Maybe I was like this all along.”
“And you questioned our belief he’d be a bad influence?”
Her head dropped to the side.“I thought you were okay with the relationship.”
“If you’re here, I assume it’s over.I’m your father, of course I’m angry with any man who hurts my child.”
“He didn’t hurt me and we didn’t break up.”
She stopped just short of saying she needed a break from all the fantastical sex.Roxie was rubbing off.
“If you’re fighting, you can talk to us about it.We can advise—”
“Thank you, but we’re fine.Brogan and I are fine.”
“We care about you.Your family want to support you, we can help, if you’re honest with us.”
Honest with them?She couldn’t be honest with the guy whose bed she’d been sleeping in.She couldn’t be honest with herself.
“Dad, don’t—”
“Is it another woman?”
“Another—no!”When would he have the time?“Everything’s fine.”
