Sheila sighed. “That’s what I was worried about.”
Kevin glared at me. He spoke around gritted teeth. “Can you shut up, please? This isn’t the time.”
“When is?”
He leaned forward and hissed, “What’s gotten into you?” His eyes narrowed. “Or maybe I should ask who’s gotten into you?”
I picked up my menu. “Oh, right. I forgot how you always go to the sexual innuendos because I happen to be friends with another guy. Friends, Kevin. F-R-I-E-N-D-S. I’m spelling it out because I know it’s unfamiliar. It’s a type of relationship where you don’t screw the other person. Those do exist, you know.”
“Stop it.”
“Or maybe you really don’t. Do you ever hang out with a girl and not plan to get in her pants at some point?”
“I did with you.”
I sucked in my breath.
“We both know how that turned out.”
The fuckhead. I could feel the silence around the table like a two-ton weight. My dad was here. Kevin’s mom was here—the woman who had taken me in and loved me.
That asshole. I jerked forward, ready to deliver a retort when my dad interrupted.
“I think that’s enough from you two.”
“Yes.” Sheila nodded. “What has gotten into you? You never talked to each like this at the house.”
“Because we never talked.”
I kept my mouth shut, but Sheila seemed taken aback by Kevin’s statement.
“What do you mean?”
“Summer and me. We didn’t talk.”
“Because of you,” I added. Yeah, the intention to shut up had been a good one…
He regarded me, sitting back in his chair. I felt like we were squaring off. I was going with it. My blood grew more heated by the second.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?” I asked.
His jaw clenched. “You always look like you’re half joking or half going crazy, so yeah. You kinda do.”
“Kevin Jamison Matthews!” Sheila’s fist came down on the table. “You apologize now to your stepsister.”
He didn’t. He narrowed his eyes and turned to address his mother head-on. “That’s the thing, you never gave me a choice as to whether I wanted a stepsister. I’m assuming she never got a choice about a stepbrother either—or even a stepmother.” He turned to my dad, who’d been sitting stoically. “And no offense, sir, but I never wanted a new dad. I have enough issues with my current one.”
“Get up from this table and walk away.” It was a softly spoken command from Sheila, and it sent shivers down my back.
I didn’t say a word. My dad still hadn’t. We waited to see what Kevin would do, because this had become an exchange between mother and son.
Kevin waited five more seconds, holding his mother’s gaze, before pulling his cloth napkin from his lap. He laid it on his plate. Shoving back his chair, Kevin didn’t say another word or look at us as he stood and left.
I’d been holding my breath since Sheila’s command. I slowly released it now, blinking back a few surprising tears.
She let out a shaky laugh. “That’s been brewing for a while, and I apologize wholehearted—”
“Stop, Sheila.” My father cleared his throat, folding his hands on the table. “He’s right.”
“Excuse me? Did you just say—”
He interrupted again. “They’re both right, and what were we thinking? We just got married, Sheila. We didn’t give them warning, or time to get accustomed to the new setup. They met a week before we moved in, and he’s right about that first year. They barely talked. Everyone barely talked. The only two who did were you and me.”
He turned to me. “I should’ve known. You were quiet that year, but you’ve always been quiet. I thought you were just missing your mother. I didn’t think— No, I didn’t want to think. I just decided you got along, so I didn’t think about unresolved issues. I’m sorry, honey.”
I blinked back more tears. That hole was ripping open inside me. My mom… A wave of longing crashed over me. I could hear her voice. I was right there, holding her hand in the hospital. I felt her fingers brush back my hair as she said softly, “You won’t just have a great life, Summer. You’ll soar. I know you’ll be better than your father or I ever were.”
My heart started going, too fast.
I couldn’t—it was pressing into my throat. I felt like I was being choked from the inside.
“Are you okay, honey?” Sheila’s hand came down on mine, warming me.
I nodded, brushing the tears away. “I’m fine. I, uh—” I looked at my dad. “I miss Mom, that’s all.”
Sheila grew quiet.
Tears welled in my dad’s eyes, and my throat closed up at the sight. I turned away.
I didn’t want to cry. I felt my mom every day, but I couldn’t let myself think about her. If I did? Niagara Falls. Clearing my throat, I dried my eyes and shook my head. That hole—it needed to close.
“Before we hold a candlelight vigil right here and now, can we deal with the Kevin thing?”
“That’s what I am? A thing to deal with?”
Kevin had returned. He paused before pulling his chair out.
I waved to his face. “Oh good. Your scowl came back too.”
“Summer!”