Chapter 12
Corrine
I sleep into the afternoon, surprised to wake to the darkening bedroom around me. I must have been exhausted. I gather myself and head downstairs. Riley is seated back at the kitchen counter, flipping through another photo album.
“You’re really curious about Mom and Dad, huh?” I ask her.
“I guess I just realized they’re getting older and we don’t spend much time with them,” she says, looking wistful.
“Are you pregnant? Is that what this is about?”
She smiles at me and shakes her head. “No! But I don’t think it would be weird if we were to have a baby… Sebastian would be an amazing dad.”
“You’re delusional,” I say, then smile. “Okay, maybe I guess he’d be okay at it.” My mom walks into the kitchen, obviously dressed for dinner. “Are you girls ready for dinner with Dad?”
“Yep!” Riley says, then points to a picture in the album she’s perusing. “Mom, who are these guys? Looks like they’re with Dad and Daniel in a few of these pictures. My mom peers over my shoulder and looks at the album.
“Oh, that was a friend of your dad’s for a while. He didn’t stay here long either, I think his parents were in the military or something. They moved a lot.”
“He looks familiar,” Riley says, curiosity pushing the question further.
“That was Eric,” she points to the guy in the picture smiling at the camera, his arm around another guy. “And that’s his brother, Ethan.”
“Honey?” She calls up the stairs to my dad. “Do you remember Eric and Ethan? What was their last name again?”
My dad comes downstairs, outfitted in a tie and khaki pants with his token button-down. “Trouble I would rather not remember,” he says, gritting his teeth. Then, remembering her original question, he sits down and says “Lockhart. That’s Eric and his brother Ethan. Lockhart.”
My eyes widen and I feel Riley stiffen beside me. The next page shows Eric with his arm around a man and a woman. I nod towards the picture, waiting for my dad to respond.
“Penny, Eric, David,” he points out. “Weirdest trio ever. I swear if Penny and David hadn’t run off and gotten married, I would have thought they were in a throuple.”
My mom chuckles out loud before covering her mouth. “Your dad isn't wrong. I swear everyone thought they were in a throuple. They were always together. One day, Penny and Dave decided to elope, and we never heard from them again. Not too long after, Eric went to the city to work for his Dad’s company. It’s been so long since we have heard from any of them. I wonder how they all are?”
Before I can ask any more questions, Riley stands abruptly and grabs her purse. “Let’s go,” she says. “I’m starving.”
I’m lost in thought for the next few minutes. What the fuck? My parents know, or knew, Ethan Lockhart? Did they know he had a hit out on my sister? That he had Nate kidnap her?
Surely not. Right?
As we drive to the restaurant Riley is quiet but she’s texting furiously on her phone. I scoot a little closer to her and hold her hand like we’re kids again. I don’t think it’s the time to talk to our parents about the savage man who is after her and now possibly, me, but I need to find out more about all of this.