Relief rolled down my spine and I blew one back at him, feeling giddy as a teenager. Lizzie smirked at me as she sauntered over.
“Well? How much do you love me?”
“So much,” I gushed. “What happened? What did you say? What did he say?”
She looped her arm through mine and guided me to her car. “Oh, you know—just told him he was being dumb. Told him to imagine that the biggest, baddest, meanest guy he went to prison with was now in charge of his room and board and that his entire life hinged on him keeping that guy happy. It seemed to click.”
“Ugh, thank you! I’ve been trying to explain it to him for months, he just never seemed to get—”
Lizzie’s jaw dropped and she stared at me. “Months? Months! How have you kept this a secret for months?!” She shook her head at me and stormed into her car, still shaking her head. Lizzie being Lizzie, I thought it would take her point one seconds to get over it. But, to my surprise, she started the car and backed out of the space, staring at me the whole time.
“We’re just—damn it, Lizzie, will you look at what you’re doing? You almost took out that garbage can. I wasn’t keeping this a secret because I was being a dick. Kash and I… We’re just careful. We meet in the woods and have dates in his truck and stuff.”
Lizzie made a face and stopped the car. “Gross. What are you, fourteen? Sneaking out to go neck in the woods with the older boy who drives, oooohhh. Ew.” She shot a glance at me then shook her head again. The poor thing would probably have whiplash by the time she got home. “Honey, I fought hard for you back there and I’ll do it again if you need me to, but just between you and me? I think Kash is right. This whole thing the two of you have going on is going to be common knowledge eventually. Secrets like this keep about as well as cottage cheese in a greenhouse.”
“It doesn’t have to keep forever,” I protested. “Just until we can save up to get an apartment or something. I mean, he’ll have to convince his PO, and I’ll have to make sure that mom’s taken care of, but it’s not like I’ll be far away no matter where I move to in this town, so I can always check on her. It’s just not a good idea for everyone to find out about me and Kash while I’m still living with my parent.”
She nodded a little more emphatically than she needed to. I walked over to her and plopped into the passenger seat. Much as it would do me good to walk home right now, it’d also do me good to not have to walk home right now.
“Mm-hm, mm-hm,” Lizzie tsked. And what happens if your dad hears it from one of his drinking buddies, or the cashier at the grocery store, or the gas station clerk? I assume you guys stop for gas occasionally.”
I dropped my head back against the seat and sighed hard. “He’d lose his shit.”
“Yep. It would embarrass him. How well does your dad respond to embarrassment, Daisy? And secrets? Especially secrets that involve you. Embarrassing secrets that involve you!”
I groaned into my hands. I wasn’t embarrassed by Kash and it hurt, deep in the pit of my heart and all the way back up to the top, it hurt. But she wasn’t wrong. If my dad found out from one of his colleagues or drinking buddies or the guy at the gas station, embarrassment would flood him like an active tsunami.
“That’s what I thought. So, scenario number two. You tell him, straight up. Just you, no Kash. You sit your father down and have an honest, adult conversation with him. Maybe take him out to lunch and tell him while you’re out in public. Then, even if you fight about it, he’ll feel like he’s on your side and that you respect him and junk. And he can’t overreact because… well, because he’s in public and he gives a damn what people will think about him yelling at you like a loose drunk. By the time you two get home, at least he would have had the chance to cool down.”
I gazed out the window without really seeing anything. “I do respect him and junk,” I said. “Mostly because he scares the hell out of me.”
“Like I said…that’s why the lunch. Take him out in public where he’ll be pressured to behave himself and not go all berserker. At least think about it, huh? I’ll even pay for the damn lunch.”
I promised her I’d think about it. By the time we got to my street, I was pretty sure I would do it. As she pulled around the circle to park in front of my trailer, I was positive that I would do it.
“I’ll take him to Bernie’s,” I said. “He likes their barbecue sauce.”
Lizzie grinned and winked at me and pulled forty dollars out of her purse. “That’s my girl! Here. Like I said, lunch is on me.”
“Put that away, I got it,” I said with a laugh. “Save it for drinks this weekend. I have a feeling I’m going to need them.”
“You got it,” she said and a grinned at me like a proud mother hen.
I straightened my shoulders and walked up to my house, feeling invincible and untouchable.
It was easy.
All I had to do was take my
