Chapter 35 Now
Now
My car was where I’d left it in the school parking lot, like the past nearly twenty-four hours in the bathroom hadn’t happened at all.
I pressed the unlock button on my key fob, threw my backpack into the back seat, and climbed inside.
I immediately started the engine and checked my rearview mirror to back out of my space.
Nobody was behind me. On my way out of the parking lot I did notice something interesting, though: both Ava’s car and Beau’s.
Had they driven separately to school the day before?
Did they not carpool anymore? I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t thought of it before.
They had to have taken separate cars; otherwise she would’ve known right away that he was missing after school.
Maybe he only drove yesterday because he was stocking the teacher’s lounge.
I kept going. What time had my mom said the meeting was today?
Two? Three? I didn’t remember. I had never planned on going.
If I was being honest with myself, even though I was good at pretending, I had never actually planned to write a letter for it either.
That’s why I hadn’t. I still had time to write one if the meeting wasn’t until two.
Because no matter what, my dad deserved the benefit of the doubt. He deserved for me to believe him.
I pulled into the driveway at home, parking in the spot to the right of the garage.
It felt like I hadn’t been home in years, even though I had literally been here yesterday.
I ran up the front steps to the door. It was locked.
I dug my keys out of my backpack and unlocked it, then hurried into the house.
“Mom! Dad! I’m home!”
There was no answer. I searched the house—the kitchen, their bedroom, my bedroom. Nothing. I sat on my bed and pulled out my phone, bringing up the texts that I hadn’t had time to properly digest as I was leaving the bathroom.
Where are you
Your location is off
Should I be worried
Did you write the letter
Are you going to make it to the meeting
This is very important
Indy, the least you can do is answer me
We’re going to talk about consequences when you get home.
My life felt like one big consequence lately, but whatever, I probably deserved more.
I checked my parents’ location. They were already at the law firm. It was barely twenty after twelve. How long had they been there? Were they at the beginning of their meeting or the end?
I texted my mom: I’m sorry! I got locked in the bathroom at school. Is it too late? I’ll come now!
I changed out of my jeans and tee and into a skirt and button-down blouse. I brushed my hair and teeth and even applied some makeup. I tried to tuck the black strip of hair behind my ear, but it still stood out bold. I gave up and went to my room, where I opened my laptop.
I grabbed my phone, realizing I now had access to the notes I’d been taking over the past several weeks.
They would make this task easier. I pulled them up and read over them.
They were…terrible. Just anecdotes with zero emotion.
Stories that said nothing about who my dad was or things he’d taught me or sacrifices he’d made. And they were tinged with bitterness.
Bitterness that had somehow faded to almost nothing over the past twenty-four hours. Or maybe it had been fading and I hadn’t realized it. Either way, I knew that talking to Beau had helped. A couple of months didn’t erase a lifetime of what my dad had done for me.
I quickly wrote the letter while keeping an eye on my phone for an incoming message from my mom. I included stories and feelings and personal thoughts about who my dad was to me.
When I was finished, I sent it to my printer, only to remember I’d never changed out the ink.
I carried my laptop downstairs to my dad’s office.
It seemed so bare with all his paperwork and files gone.
He’d straightened it up in the past several months, but it was still eerily out of sorts.
I set my laptop on his desk and sent the letter to the printer.
As a page was being fed through the machine, I heard the front door shut.
It scared me and I jumped. I rushed out of the office.
“Hello! Dad! Mom!” I called.
I saw Mom’s face first. There was a beat of relief in her eyes, like she had been worried about me, but that relief quickly shifted to anger. Dad, who stood behind her, just looked exhausted.
She held up her phone. “Locked in a bathroom? Very creative.” She was referring to my text. She thought I made it up. Lied.
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s the truth. You can ask Beau.”
“Beau?” Mom asked. “I thought you and Beau weren’t friends anymore.”
“We aren’t. We weren’t…” Were we now? Maybe. The expressions on Ava’s and Caroline’s faces when they saw me flashed through my mind. Yeah, probably not. I couldn’t think about that right now. Dad sank onto the couch. Mom straightened decor on the bookshelf that didn’t need to be straightened.
“How did the meeting go?” I asked. “I wrote a letter. I’m printing it. Or I can email it somewhere if that would be better.”
“We don’t need it anymore,” Dad said.
“Oh.” Was that good news?
“The meeting went okay,” Mom said, turning to look at Dad.
He rubbed at the back of his neck. “I just have to testify against a friend. Not something I’m looking forward to.”
“But they haven’t found anything on you?” I asked.
“It’s not that simple,” he said.
“If he testifies, the minor things they found will be dropped,” Mom explained.
I was confused. “They’re threatening you?”
He let out a single laugh. “No. It’s called a deal.”
“Oh,” I said. “Are you going to take the deal, then?”
“Yes,” Mom said, not letting him answer. “He is.” Mom was as ready for this to be over as anyone. After the news story came out, she’d been fighting rumors at work too. Coworkers whispering when they thought she wasn’t around, long stares, cut hours.
He cleared his throat. “I am.”
“This is good news, right?” I asked.
“This is as good as we can hope for,” Mom said.
“Things aren’t always good or bad,” Dad said. “Sometimes things just are.”
“I’m confused. If your friend was doing bad things, why shouldn’t he have to pay for that?”
“It’s not that,” Dad said, shaking his head. “He was making fraudulent claims against the government. He should be disbarred and charged.”
“But?”
“But he was a friend. And I don’t want to be the one to bring him down. I wish his own actions were enough to do that. But he was smart. Good at hiding things.”
“They need you?”
He nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sometimes we have to do hard things,” he said.
“And then everything will be fine,” I said. “Once you get through this.”
Neither of my parents responded.
I looked between the two of them. “You think taking the deal isn’t going to help your business?” I asked. “People still aren’t going to trust you?” Things still weren’t going to go back to normal.
He gave a tight-lipped nod, confirming my guesses. I lowered myself onto the arm of the overstuffed chair next to the couch.
Mom crossed her arms, turning her attention to me. “We need to talk about consequences for what you’ve done.” She obviously wanted to change the subject. “For your actions lately.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Whatever you think.”
“A week no phone, no going out?” Mom looked at Dad to see if he agreed with this. He nodded and she held her hand out to me.
I gave a breathy laugh. I’d just gotten my phone back, but whatever.
It wasn’t like I needed it much these days.
I dug it out of my pocket and placed it in my mom’s upturned palm.
“Oh, I cut up one of the school’s lock bags.
They’ll probably be calling you about it.
If you want to add on another punishment for that, I get it. ”
My mom let out a tired breath. “A job.”
“Yes,” Dad agreed.
“What?” I asked.
“Your punishment,” Mom said. “You need to find a job. I’m sure the school is going to charge you for destroyed property. You need to pay for it.”
She was probably right. Had I just waited to check my texts that day until after class, none of this would’ve happened. I’d stopped caring. But I cared now. I wanted to do better. “Okay.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re not going to fight me on that?”
“Do you want me to?”
A small smile found its way onto her face and she tilted her head. “Something is different.”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I was trapped in a bathroom with Beau.”
“You’re ready to forgive him for whatever he did?”
I knew he wasn’t perfect. Like my dad said, nobody was.
He had made mistakes. And so had I. I’d made a lot.
But being in that bathroom with him, I felt more like myself than I had in a while.
He was part of who I was. I just hoped he agreed that I was part of him too.
I wasn’t sure if we could have the friendship we had before, but I wanted to talk to him, figure it out. “I’m ready to try.”