Page 52 of Our Crooked Hearts
I smiled at him, confused. “How could you possibly have known?”
“Ivy? Ivy, what’s going on?”
My dad’s voice, sudden and strangely severe. His car was in our drive and he was slamming its door. I started to step away from Billy, but he took my hand and held it tightly. Together we watched my father hustling across the street to meet us.
“Dad.” My voice wasn’t quite steady. “You’re home early.”
His work clothes were streaming, the hip glasses Hank and I picked out for him fogging over. He kept pinching the condensation away. “I should’ve come home last night. Your mom’s not back, is she?”
“Not yet.”
“Ah. How are you, Billy?”
Billy gripped my hand like it was an anchor. His face was expressionless. “All good, Mr. Chase.”
My dad kept looking between us, then down at our clasped hands. I couldn’t tell if it was the rain on his lenses that made him look so off-balance. “What were you two talking about?”
That was when my heart dropped low. Because heknew.Whatever my mom had done to me to make me forget Billy, my dad was in on it, too.
“Come into the house.” His eyes were unreadable. “I need to talk to you. Now.”
I watched, chest aching, as he hurried away. When I looked back at Billy his face was almost afraid.
“Ivy,” he said. “Don’t forget about this.”
I nodded, but I didn’t say the words. It wasn’t a promise I was sure I could make.
