Forty
“Hey, Deanna,” I say, repeating the same greeting I’ve made for the last five days since my dad got out of the hospital.
“Hi, Brynn.” She smiles bright. Her voice, when it isn’t on the phone, telling me about my dad’s heart attack, is actually a very lovely one, and I almost feel guilty for how I talked to her. Only almost because I’ve tried to apologize to her multiple times and she waves me off every time, telling me I was actually one of the nicer people she’s broken bad news to. So that’s lovely, I guess. “Frank is in the kitchen even though I keep telling him he shouldn’t be standing for that long yet.”
“He’s so stubborn.” A trait that did not get passed down to me. “I’ll force him onto the couch.”
“Good luck with that.” She slings her leather tote over her scrubs-covered shoulder. “I’ll be back tomorrow. See you around?”
“You know it.” I was hesitant when she first started coming over, but that changed once I realized that I finally had somebody on my side when it came to scolding my dad. I’m actually really enjoying having her around. “Drive safe, the streets are terrible.”
The weather has been awful lately. It’s like my mood has altered Colorado’s normally sunny nature and turned it into a gray, swirling mess of sadness and uncertainty.
“I thought I was the one who had a heart attack, but I still look better than you,” my dad says as I walk into the kitchen.
“Rude.” I toss my purse haphazardly onto the table, loose receipts and change spilling everywhere.
“But where’s the lie?”
“Dad.” My eyes roll to the back of my head. “You have to stop hanging out with Ace. You aren’t allowed to use phrases like that.”
“Haters are everywhere,” he says, purposefully trying to get under my skin.
“Oh my god,” I groan. “Why are you so weird?”
“What’s going on, Brynn?” He slides into the chair across from me, his worried eyes trained on me. “You’ve been miserable for days now. Are you finally going to tell me why?”
After everything went down with Maxwell, I kept it from my dad. I mean, he was just getting released from the hospital and I wasn’t going to add stress of any kind to his plate. So I plastered on a fake smile and came over every day, thinking those acting classes Naomi gave me years ago were really coming in handy. But I guess I won’t be getting that Oscar nomination anytime soon.
“Maxwell and I broke up.” I keep my eyes down and trace the scratch I “accidentally” carved into the table when I was in high school and was supposed to be writing a paper.
“I figured that out that day in the hospital, what I don’t know is why.”
I open my mouth to tell him what Maxwell did, but at the last minute, change my mind.
“Did I ever tell you Maxwell has a brother?”
“He does?” His eyebrows shoot to his hairline.
“Yeah, Maxwell didn’t tell me either. I found out when Theo, that’s his brother’s name, came into HERS one night before I closed.”
“That’s strange.” My dad gets that far-off look he always does before he gives me a good lecture.
“I know, I don’t know why he’d hide his family from me.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “Not that. That his brother would come to you on his own, late at night. That didn’t ring alarms for you?”
I shrug my shoulders, thinking back on the uneasy feeling I had being alone with him. “I mean, I guess at the time, because I was alone and he startled me, but he just wanted to get in contact with Maxwell.”
“How many times have I told you to listen to your instincts?”
I smile my first genuine smile since Maxwell left my apartment. “Millions?”
In high school, my dad used to record (and not on DVR, but actual VHS tapes, because that’s how old I am) every episode of Oprah and 20/20. He would then curate a lineup that had to do with trusting your instincts and how to—hopefully—avoid dangerous situations. I guess he figured Oprah and Barbara Walters were more credible than he was . . . He wasn’t wrong.
“So this Theo made you feel uneasy and Maxwell made you feel what?”
Geez. He hasn’t grilled me like this since I moved back home after my one year in Texas.
“Happy? I don’t know? You know I always liked Maxwell. Even after the bar scenario, it was hard for me to hold a grudge.” I throw my hands into the air. “But maybe I shouldn’t trust my instincts. What if they’re wrong? Theo told me some horrible things about Maxwell . . . things I never thought he was capable of.”
“And Maxwell admitted to them?”
“Not exactly.” More like looked at me as if I was the scum of the earth for even considering he was guilty of what Theo accused him of . . . not that I tell my dad that.
“So he denied them and instead of you discussing whatever it is with him, you believed a man he isn’t close with. The same man who gave you a bad feeling?”
Thankfully, before I’m able to answer, my phone starts to vibrate.
I grab it like the lifeline it is and almost kiss the screen when I see Paisley’s name pop up. She only calls me while she’s at HERS if it’s an emergency.
“Sorry, Dad, work calls.” I grab my purse, already walking to the door, and not actually sorry at all. “What’s up, Pais?”
“Abby just called in, actually, her mom called in. She has strep and of course a bachelorette party just walked in.” As she says it, I hear the now-familiar screeches of women who are ready to let loose. “I need backup.”
“I’m already en route.” I zip my jacket up as far as it will go and angle my head down to avoid the harsh, freezing wind that’s trying to eat my face.
“You’re the best, thank you.” She doesn’t wait for my response before the line goes dead.
I’ve buried myself in work and my friends since Maxwell left my apartment. My thoughts are not a place I really want to be. However, after talking to my dad, maybe it’s where I need to be.
Maxwell has given me no reason to believe he would ever do what Theo is accusing him of doing. In fact, he’s given me every reason to think the opposite. Every time I’ve been around him—sans the bar incident—he’s been nothing but respectful. In fact, when I think back on our relationship, consent has never been questionable. Even when I thought my body was going to explode and I was practically begging him to take off his pants, he still insisted on me telling him I was okay.