Dad is near the reception desk, talking with other Adamson staff members, and employees of the resort. He ignores us while we sit down and order, but right at about the time the bowl of edamame arrives, there he is, standing beside me.
I look up.
“Jason Lambert is unaccounted for,” he says, voice gruff as his eyes scan the other boys. “When you're finished eating, I want to speak with you and Spencer again.” I nod, but he's not done, dropping those blue eyes back to my face. “After I get your story, you can explain to me why you're not in the room like I requested.”
He spins on his heel and takes off as I sigh.
This is going to be a long week, isn't it?“Chuck Carson, I am not the bad guy,” Dad says, his face etched with a deep frown. We stare at each other, standing outside on the bridge that spans the length of the koi pond. “Do you think I make up rules just to torture you?”
“Sometimes,” I admit, and the look he gives me is pure hell. “What? You could try explaining things to me once in a while. Instead, all you do is give vague orders that I'm supposed to follow like a soldier.”
Archie sighs and moves over to the edge of the bridge, staring down at the shiny scaled backs of the fish. They dart from shadows, gold tails flashing.
“You must've gotten that stubbornness from me. Your mother's always been an agreeable sort of person.”
“She's dating Mr. Dave,” I say, unsure as to why I've kept that from him for so long. Hell, maybe he already knows? If he doesn't, he's going to be devastated, I think as I watch the muscles in his upper back and shoulders tighten. “Did you know that?”
“I didn't,” Dad says carefully, lifting his head up to look at me. He and Mom are eighteen years apart. I've always thought of that as a pretty big age gap. It makes me wonder if he ever considered this might happen, if she might decide she wanted a different life one day. “How do you know about this?”
“She took me to dinner with him in LA. Don't you think that's odd that they'd meet up like that?” I swallow hard as Archie sighs, rising to his full height, a muscle in the side of his jaw ticking. “And also, that's pretty messed-up that she didn't tell you.”
“Chuck.” Archie glances my way, mouth pressed into a thin line. “You know your behavior lately has been out of control. What is going on with you and those boys?”
“I'm … we just like each other.” It's all I can think to say. And it's true. That's all that happened, isn't it? We just sort of started getting along.
“First you claim you're dating Spencer Hargrove, then you announce you're dating twins.” Dad scoffs and runs his fingers through his thinning hair, dropping his voice to a whisper. “I find a morning-after pill in your things, and then you fake an engagement to get the Montagues to throw their weight around. Does this sound reasonable to you? Because I raised you better than that.”
I just stare at him and then lift my palms in a helpless gesture.
“Being in a healthy, happy relationship with more than one person doesn't make me a bad human being,” I say, and my voice sounds soft and mature, most definitely a new Charlotte sort of a thing to do.
“Watching my daught—son go after and bed five different boys is not something I'm interested in. This is not the sort of behavior anyone would condone for a seventeen-year-old.” He pushes his glasses up his face, and inhales deeply, like he's trying to keep it all together. “It isn't right.”
“But why? I'm not doing anything wrong. What do you care who I sleep with as long as I'm happy? My grades are better than ever, and for the first time in my life, I'm actually thinking about college. I even started filling out a couple applications. Shouldn't you be happy about that?”
“Sir.” It's Church, standing not too far off from us, dressed in a fresh yukata, and looking as chipper as well, someone who didn't stab their teacher just hours prior. “There's a police officer at the front gate who'd like to speak with you about Jason.”
Archie stares at him in a completely new way, all of that shiny joy at being around the best student in school wiped clean. Frankly, Dad looks like he hates him now.
“Thank you. If you could please stay with Chuck while I'm otherwise occupied. I don't particularly like the idea of you two being alone, but I like the idea of him being by himself even less.” Archie takes off in full headmaster mode, moving down the path toward the front entrance.
