On a work day.
What the hell?
Keira hurried the rest of the way up the walk, fumbling automatically for her house keys. The knob turned beneath her hand as she tried to slide the blade of the key into the lock. Of course—her dad would have left it unlocked.
Shoving her keys back into her backpack, Keira pushed her way into the house.
“Dad?” she called, dropping her things in the front hall.
Her dad leapt off the couch so fast that she took a step back.
“Hi, honey.” His eyes darted between her bag lying on the floor, her half-removed coat, and her raised eyebrows.
“Uh, hi. You’re home early,” she said, wondering what was going on. If this was some sort of daddy-daughter bonding time the therapist had cooked up with her father, Keira was going to be really irritated.
“Yeah. I had some . . . things to sort out and—” He paused, running a hand through his thinning hair. “And it seemed silly to go back to the office now and besides,” he offered, “you’ve been cooped up without a car for days. I thought you might have something you wanted to do. Somewhere you needed to go?”
Is he trying to get rid of me?
The thought was too slimy to touch. Her dad had always been thoughtful—nice. Just because her parents were fighting didn’t mean she should be so suspicious. Keira shook herself. He was offering her the car.
“That’s great, Dad,” she said, sliding her arm back into her dangling coat. She could at least save Susan the trip over. And then maybe on her way home, she could stop at Take Note.
The thought made her mouth water. She could spend the rest of the afternoon looking at music, searching for something new that would end her streak of bad playing. And she could see Walker.
She wanted to pretend that it was only the thought of new music that cranked up her heartbeat, but it wasn’t. She wanted to see him, too.
As long as she wouldn’t look desperate. She wasn’t one of those girls who couldn’t leave a guy alone when he was at work. His job just happened to be at her second-most favorite place on earth, after her piano. That was different.
But it didn’t seem like it should be quite so hard to convince herself how different it was. Still. Susan and music and Walker was more temptation than she was up to resisting right then.
“Well? The gas tank’s full.” Her dad dangled the keys in front of her the way other parents waved rattles in front of babies.
She plucked the fob out of his hand. “I need to take Susan her homework, actually. She was going to come here, but . . . yeah. This is better. And maybe I’ll stop by Take Note too. See if they have anything new in.” She bent to grab for her bag, but her dad reached into his back pocket and Keira froze.
He pulled out his wallet.
Keira swallowed.
He dug a crumpled twenty out and passed it to her.
“Here—find something fun. You’ve been working so hard on your Juilliard pieces—you deserve it.”
Keira stared down at the limp bill. Something really was wrong. It was too much bribery—her dad had already given her “emergency money” once in the last week. Twice was more than they could afford and she knew it. She swallowed hard, pushing down the sick feeling that rose in her throat.
“Thanks, but I’ve still got plenty left from what you gave me before,” she lied. She’d spent a chunk of it having pie with Walker. But she still had her last paycheck.
Her very last, not-going-to-get-another-one paycheck.
She scooped up her bag and cradled it in her arms. Her dad stuffed the money into the open front pocket.
“Just take it,” he insisted. “And go have fun!” His voice buzzed, bright and fake. He stared behind her at the door, like he expected someone to come through it.
Of course. He was probably waiting for her mom. It would be like them to schedule a time to have their next horrific fight. At least he was giving her a chance to escape first.
Keira backed out of the house. “Okay. Well—thanks, then. I’ll see you soon!”
Her dad shut the door so fast that he snapped off the end of his “Drive safe!”
Keira tossed her stuff into the car. She shook out her hands. Whatever weirdness was happening with her parents, it wasn’t about her. She shoved her parents’ problems out of sight, into some tight-closing drawer in her mind, and focused on what was ahead.
Susan. Then music. And Walker. And a whole afternoon with a car to herself.
Chapter Twenty-One
THE KIMS’ DOOR SWUNG open. Susan stood there, freshly lip-glossed and glowing. Her eyes had dark circles underneath them, but the smile on her face was genuinely happy.
“Uh, hey,” Keira said. “How are you?”
“Hungry!” Susan announced. “I overslept and missed breakfast.”