I unlock the front door to our apartment, letting myself inside. Dad’s sitting at our little dining table, newspaper spread out on it with his coffee to the left, his hand curled around the mug.
The sight brings a small smile to my lips.
Everyone reads the newspaper online nowadays, but my dad still likes to go and buy his morning paper and read it with a coffee.
“Hey,” I say. “Where’s Casey?”
“Still sleeping. She was out last night.” He looks up from his paper. “Uh-oh. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I put my bag down.
“That’s not your nothing face. That’s your something-has-happened face. The same face you had a few weeks ago after you’d seen Adam for the first time in ten years. Only, this time, you look worse.”
“So, basically, you’re saying I look like crap. Gee, thanks, Dad.”
I sit down, reach over, and take his coffee mug from his hand. I take a sip and then give it back to him.
“You went to Malibu with Adam, didn’t you?”
I told Dad that I was going. I just didn’t say it was with Adam. That was why I had Adam pick me up outside the building, so Dad wouldn’t see.
“Mmhmm,” I answer noncommittally.
“And you’ve been seeing him all this time, haven’t you?”
“Mmhmm.”
“And you haven’t told him the truth about why you left, and now, it’s all come to a head—hence, the face.”
“You got me bugged or something?” I open my jacket up, examining it.
“Funny. But, no, I’m just know a dad who knows his daughter.” He folds his paper up and puts it aside. “It’s time to tell Adam the truth, Evie.”
I give him a look. “I can’t.”
“Can’t isn’t a reason.”
“Fine. I don’t know how to tell him.”
“It’s simple.”
“No, it’s not. I made a deal with Ava. I can’t go back on that. What if I do, and Karma bites me in the ass for it?” I know Dad doesn’t believe in that stuff, but I do. I believe every action has a consequence. Every wrong will be righted, one way or another.
“I’m pretty sure Karma has Ava on its list—high on its list—with this very reason right by her name. I think you’ll get a free pass with Karma on this one, Evie.”
“Yeah, but…” I blow out a breath. “In a twisted way, I owe Ava, Dad. She saved Casey’s life.”
“She didn’t save Casey’s life. She gave us the opportunity to be able to. And it’s not like she did it out of the goodness of her heart. She took from you as much as she gave.”
He’s right. I know he is, but…
“How do I tell Adam? How do I even start?”
“You start at the beginning.”
“I just…” I drag a hand through my hair. “I don’t want to hurt him any more than I already have.”
“You’re hurting him right now.”
“Dad…” I wince.
“No. I’m sorry, Evie, but you need to hear this. If Adam is the same kid I knew ten years ago, then you’re hurting him. That kid loved you. He loved you like I loved your mom. It’s that once-in-a-lifetime kind of love.”
“He doesn’t feel like that anymore.” I shake my head, my eyes starting to fill with tears.
“That kind of love doesn’t die because of time or distance, Evie. Believe me, I know.” There’s an ache in his voice, which makes me hurt more. “It’s always there, burning away. And Adam’s might be hidden and buried under a lot of anger and pain at the moment, but it is still there. He just needs to find his way back to it. But that can only happen with you being honest with him.”
“But what if—”
“There are no what-ifs, Evie. You should have told him at the time. I should have made you and stopped what was happening. Maybe we could have done things differently. Got Casey that treatment some other way. If I’d—”
“No. There was nothing you could have done. You had already done everything you could. Bending to what Ava wanted was all I could do. She held all the cards.”
“But it meant that you lost everything.”
“I didn’t lose everything. I still had you and Casey. That was the most important thing.”