17. August
“Saw Justin in action, and wow,” Tiny says as she climbs into the passenger side of the Jeep, picking up the length of her dress and shutting the door with a thud. “Ella’s parents were right.”
I look at her expectantly as I start the engine and back out.
She kicks off her sandals, plunking her feet onto the dash. “Despite his charming public exterior, Justin’s a manipulative twat in private—classic controlling behavior. No wonder he got Ella to change around her life for him. He’s good. Like, really good.”
And again, the first thing I think is Kyle.
I grip the steering wheel a little tighter as I turn out of the parking lot. But all I say is, “How so?”
“I watched him full-on pressure her to hook up with him, blame her when she said no, and then walk off like he was mad. And not in the clumsy pushy way that’d have her give him the finger, in the guilt-trippy ‘you really hurt me’ way. Then not ten minutes later in front of their friends he was pulling her onto his lap and whispering into her ear until she laughed. Basically playing the whole ‘best boyfriend ever’ routine while Sharky was griping about how lucky Ella is.” She pauses to take a breath. “I mean, we’ve dealt with controlling boyfriends before. But never this popular and not the kind that hides his behavior like a con artist.”
“So we expose him.”
“Right, but how?” Tiny shifts in her seat. “Let’s say what I saw today was just a bitty piece of a larger problem, that he’s done this to her in any number of ways. Do her friends really care if we expose the fact that he’s manipulating her into giving up her dream school? Probably not. All we’d do is embarrass Ella and possibly push her farther into his arms.”
I paused at Des’s door on my way back from the bathroom, ready to knock. It was after eleven, but I knew she wouldn’t mind. I’d been going to Des’s room when I couldn’t sleep for forever.
I paused, my hand gripping the handle, when I heard Kyle’s voice.
“Just come for a little while. No one will miss you,” Kyle said, and I could hear him smiling.
“I don’t know.” Des sounded hesitant.
“It’ll be fun. I promise. Your mom won’t even notice,” he said, which was true. Since Dad left in a wake of fighting and tears, Mom disappeared into her room every night after dinner and didn’t reappear until we were already at school.
“That’s exactly why I have to stay,” she said. “Mom’s totally checked out. What if something happens and I’m not here?”
“You really think something’s going to happen if you’re gone for two hours?” he pressed.
“Kyle—” she started, her tone firm.
“Des,” he said, cutting her off. “You’re always taking care of everyone else. Let me take care of you for a change.”
She didn’t answer right away, and a tightness formed in my chest, my heart pressing against it in fast, anxious beats. And I panicked. I didn’t want Des to leave, to be out there in the world where I couldn’t get to her, and so I knocked, knowing my presence would kill the whole plan.
“Maybe we bait him?” Tiny suggests.
The Jeep rolls to a stop at a light, and I turn to her. “I’m listening.”
“What do we know about selfish, controlling partners? That when they feel their control is slipping, they get agitated, breaking their calm,” she says. “Exposing themselves for the jerks they really are.”
“So you want to make Justin think he’s losing control of Ella?” I say. “While logically I think it could work, there are a lot of uncertainties in that scenario.”
“There always are,” she replies confidently.
“And we’ll need to be a heck of a lot closer to Ella to pull it off,” I say.
“Not we... you,” she says. “If I try to wiggle into that tight-knit group of girls to get Ella to trust me over them, I’m going to meet every level of best-friend territorial resistance. Amber’s not the kind of queen bee who shares.”
I give her a pointed look.
“Unless you can think of a better plan?”
I open and close my hands on the steering wheel, letting out a sigh. There is no better plan and she knows it. “Okay. I’m in.”
“Good. Then it’s time to call Ella’s dad,” she says and puts her phone on speaker. She presses dial and switches off the music in the Jeep.
This time Ella’s dad picks up. “Hello,” he says with the same commanding voice I remember from the interview.
“Mr. Becker,” Tiny says in her always-upbeat cadence, one of the many reasons she takes the lead on talking to worried parents and friends. “It’s Valentine and August. We’ve called to discuss your concern about the picture and to give you an update.”
“Hold on,” he says. It’s not a question.
A good twenty seconds later he returns. “Go ahead.”
“Well, first,” Valentine says, “there’s good news—we’ve been getting closer to your daughter. In fact, that picture you saw was a direct result of us being invited to her party.”
“The invitation was never in question,” he replies. “It was the method. However, my wife has directed me to let it go. So I will. With the condition that there will be absolutely no kissing.”
I look at Tiny, who appears as taken aback as I am.
“Definitely no kissing from our side,” Tiny confirms, making room for the small caveat that sometimes they kiss us, even though we never aim for that.
He clears his throat. “Good. I just want to be crystal clear that I’m not paying for crassness and I’m certainly not paying someone to paw my daughter.”
“Of course not!” Tiny confirms. “This is about using friendship and trust to open Ella up to possibility. It’s never about seduction. Ever.”
“Just make sure you’re on track to break them up before her college-acceptance deadline,” he says like it’s purely a business deal and not his daughter’s future, and before Tiny can respond he adds, “Now I have to go; I have another call.”
And he’s gone.
Tiny presses end. “Wow. He’s a charmer.”
I coast down Ocean Avenue, following the slow pace of weekend traffic. “Authoritarian.”
“Ya think? I wonder if he talks to everyone that way or only the people lucky enough to work for him.”
I glance at Tiny. “It explains why Ella won’t discuss her life with them.”
“For real, though. All the better we took this case. They’re never going to get through to her saying things like ‘Daughter, I command you to use your sense and ignore your friends.’”
I grin at Tiny’s impression of Ella’s dad.
“But whatever you do, do not kiss Ella,” she says.
I shake my head. “You know I’d never do that. The few times it’s happened, they’ve kissed me. Not the other way around.”
“Of course they do, you sexy beast. They get their fingers all tangled in your gorgeous locks and—”
I give her a warning look.
“Fine, spoil my fun. Just be sure not to let it happen.”
“I’ll pretend to faint if I have to,” I say and Tiny laughs.