Page 103 of Faultlines

I drop my head into my hands. “That depends. Are you here to tell me I handled that badly?”

“Oh, you handled that badly.”

I groan, a low sound of defeat. “Thank you for the support.”

“Anytime.” Her expression softens. “You can’t avoid the conversation forever.”

Once I tell Ellie the truth, I can’t take it back. Whatever she feels for me now will be replaced by something I can neither predict nor undo.

At dinner, Ellie’s silence is a weapon. She gives Lucy monosyllabic answers, and stares at her plate whenever I speak. Sloane’s attempt to lighten the mood with a meme backfires. After dinner she disappears upstairs into one of the spare bedrooms, carrying her phone and enough frustration to power an entire city.

I wait a few minutes before stepping outside. I settle into one of the chairs on the back porch. Beyond the yard, a few fireflies drift through the darkness.

The screen door creaks open behind me, and my father lowers himself into the chair beside me with a quiet sigh.

“You know, when your daughter inherited your stubborn streak, I thought it was hilarious.”

“Lucy told you?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“I have to tell Ellie something.”

He grows quiet, lost in thought. “You don’t have to decide everything tonight.”

“The not-knowing is hurting her, too.”

His thumb sweeps across my knuckles. “I know.”

I bite my lip to keep from crying. “No, you don’t.”

“Oh, sweetheart. Every parent understands what it feels like to know your child is about to get hurt and be powerless to stop it.”

“What if she hates him?”

He exhales. “Maybe she will for a while.”

“What if this changes everything?”

“It will.”

“Then how am I supposed to do this?”

He gives my fingers a reassuring squeeze. “The same way you’ve survived every difficult thing you’ve ever faced. One step at a time.”

Eventually, he stands. Before heading back inside, he kisses the top of my head. Then his expression hardens. “One more thing.”

“What?”

“I’ve spent more than two decades treating Ethan like a son. Right now, I’m considering a return policy.” The unexpected statement, delivered with a wry twist of his lips, makes me laugh.

“That’s the first sensible reaction I’ve heard.”

He squeezes my shoulder and then turn toward the door. The screen door slams shut behind him.

I find Ellie at main house the next morning. She’s half-heartedly poking at a bowl of cereal. She never came over to the apartment last night.

Lucy and Jensen, sensing the tension, move around the kitchen with an exaggerated quietness.