Losing Meghan was horrific, but the fear I felt knowing Everly was in the car was—crippling. It was a terror like I’d never known. Thinking I could’ve lost them both was too much to even comprehend.
It made me feel sick to have any relief at the time of the accident, but all I kept thinking was, thank God it wasn’t Everly.
For a father to give that up willingly, is beyond my understanding.
It goes to show what an asshole Keith was. He cared about only himself and football. Teagan knew it, and it never made sense to me why she stayed with him.
But it was irrelevant because in the end, we made our choices and have to accept them.
“I really did come over here to apologize. Not to drum up old shit and fight.”
Teagan shakes her head with a smile. “Well, you’ve always sucked at apologies.”
“And you sucked at accepting them.”
Maybe she and I will find a new way to coexist and maybe I can have my best friend back because I could sure use her.
Chapter Sixteen
Teagan
Present
“I still want to be homeschooled,” Chastity announces at dinner…with my parents. She’s been a bear the last four days and I can only assume it’s because of Everly and whoever she’s found for her squad of bitches.
“Well, I love you, but not that much,” I say as I shove a forkful of spaghetti into my mouth. “We’ve already had this talk and my stance hasn’t changed.”
“Why would you want to be homeschooled?” Mom asks, unable to stop herself from seizing the opportunity to pry.
“Because I hate the stupid girls there! I’m not going back.”
I look at her and shake my head. “Yeah, you are.”
“You can’t make me.”
“Oh, but I can.”
“Maybe we should talk about it,” Mom suggests. “She’s clearly upset.”
I didn’t want to come here tonight, but I did because Chastity wanted to see her grandparents. Now I’m starting to wonder if this isn’t an ambush. My parents are getting ready for another road trip. The summer tourists clean us out each year and then we spend the winter finding treasures to restock the store.
“Mom, you’re not helping.”
She touches Chastity’s arm. “She’s upset and needs support.”
“Well, I’m upset and could use some too.”
“We’re not talking about you.”
“We’re not talking about Chastity and homeschooling either,” I emphasize.
Dad clears his throat and grabs his phone as if he’s reading. Glad to see I have his help on this one.
“Why can’t we just discuss it?” Mom asks.
“Because there’s no reason to. I have no help as it is and taking on tutoring my daughter, who is pretty much smarter than me at this point, isn’t possible.”
“So you’d send her to school with those horrible girls?”
I laugh once. “You want to teach her to run away from them?”
I try not to ask for much from my parents. The apartment is the only thing they help with, which isn’t really help. It was vacant and it was in shambles. I lasted a whole two months in my parents’ house after Chastity was born before I decided cleaning, painting, throwing out whatever I could to fix it up was worth it.
After negotiating with my father, I had a fair rent set up, which is deducted from my paycheck, a clean place for me and Chastity, and a job. Of course, it was meant to be a two-year plan and I’ve extended it…a lot, but whatever.
Going back to school is really hard when you have no money or time.
“You should at least hear her out,” Mom chides as she takes a sip of her wine.
“No, because I’m not homeschooling her. Besides, when exactly would I do this? I work at the store six days a week, for minimum wage I might add, and…if I’m going to work on top of doing schoolwork, it would be for me.”
Chastity leans back in her chair. “You?”
“Yes, I would like to go and get my degree since I dropped out.”
“You want to go back to school?” My daughter stares at me like I have two heads.
Have I really never said it? “I guess. I mean, once you’re off to college it would be nice to have a plan.”
Since I doubt painting is ever going to be anything more than just an outlet, a backup seems necessary.
“Why haven’t you mentioned it?” Dad asks.
“Why would I?”
“Because we could’ve helped.”
Now I’m stunned. “Helped how? You and Mom have been going on and on about me being independent and caring for Chastity on my own, which I’ve managed to do. Why would I think that was an option?”
“You have been the one that demanded handling Chastity on your own, honey.”
Is he crazy? “How?”
“You moved out of this house, for one,” Mom says with a sarcastic laugh. “You wanted nothing to do with us and having a built-in support system. You couldn’t sign those papers fast enough releasing Keith from—”
“Don’t!” I slap my hand on the table. “Don’t talk about him in front of her.”
This is the one thing I’ve done my best to shield Chastity from. She knows who her father is. She sees his stupid ass on television and hears all about what a hero he is for this stupid town. I don’t lie to her, but I don’t talk about what happened between him and me.
“Mom, it’s fine.” Chastity tries to calm the situation, but there’s not a chance of that.
“None of your life had to be this way,” Mom says. “You could’ve had a different future, but you were so damn sure you could do this on your own.”
And here it is. The talk of how I did this all to myself. That I signed away the right to be pissed at him.
“Yes, I know, Mom. Keith is the saint who did the right thing by all of us out of the kindness of his heart.”
“Well, it definitely wasn’t for your own good. You were always so thick-headed.”
I shake my head. “What about the fact that he could show up at
