men. Daddy issues. Does everyone have daddy issues?
Delaney hates Tom Sharpe for having an affair on her mom and then marrying the woman, who’s twenty-five years younger than he is, after her mom died. Dee had to go on Wellbutrin to get through the holy shit of it all. Zara’s dad owns four Pasta Gardens and he’s hardly home because work. In the time they do spend together, Zee’s prickly because she resents him for always being away and wants to make him pay. Brooky idolizes her dad, Big Mike, but she’s so afraid of disappointing him she can’t tell him she wants to quit track and field. She can’t tell him that she wants to go to design school and not the Olympics. And Fee? Oh my God. Fee’s got huge daddy issues. She tells people that her dad died when she was a baby. The truth is that her father went to Mexico for a relative’s wedding when she was a few months old and he never came back and was never seen again. So he disappeared, which is worse than dead. Sorta my point with Sherman.
Fee’s mom, Morena, has worked for Tom Sharpe for sixteen years, and two wives. When Fee’s dad went away, Morena lost their apartment, and you can’t be a homeless procit without risking deportation, so Mr. Sharpe and Delaney’s mom, Miss Amber, let Morena and baby Fee move into the two-story guesthouse. Delaney and Fee were raised together, like sisters, which is why they’re the least best friends. Everyone, including Fee, has heard the rumors that Tom Sharpe Schwarzeneggered Morena back in the day, which would make Fee and Dee actual half-sisters, and Tom Sharpe Fee’s actual father, which could make a whole bunch of things make a lot more sense.
I asked Fee once if her mom was bitter about her life, 24/7 servant to Tom Sharpe. Fee rolled her eyes at the question and started listing: Mr. Tom—both Fee and her mother call him that—pays Fee’s tuition at Sacred Heart High. Mr. Tom enrolled her in dance and soccer, and piano and horses, and bought her Patriot Girls dolls and iPads and phones. Mr. Tom has made sure she’s had every single thing all of the other girls on Oakwood Circle had. He threw her a huge quinceañera just last year! Bitter? No. Fee was sure that Morena felt blessed. I see the lovey-dovey way Morena looks at Tom Sharpe. I have definitely searched for genetic similarities between Fee and Mr. Sharpe. The nose, I think. The rest of the Hive and I joke about it—just a little—when Fee’s not around.
Daddies and daughters. Think of all the daddy issues the American Virtue Ball has stirred up.
Sherman showed up at the Hutsalls’ tonight while we girls were still up in Jinny’s room doing finals on our faces. His was the loudest voice on the lanai, joking and dirty-laughing about fuck knows what. When the housekeeper came up to say the limo’d arrived, we fluffed our tulle and smoothed our satin, and headed for the staircase single file.
In the foyer, in their stupid white tuxes, the dads looked like a boy band reunion. They whooped when we appeared and whipped out their phones to film our beauty parade as we began our descent. Then there was Sherm. He wasn’t recording us coming down the stairs. He was texting. Sugar Tits no doubt.
While the other girls twirled for their admiring dads, I waited for Sherm to look up from his phone. He seemed to take a sec to recognize that it was me standing in front of him. “Rory!” he said. And he smiled. But it was a fake-ass smile that I wanted to smack off his face.
I was about to say something snarky when Warren Hutsall strode over. Jinny’s dad clearly thinks he’s a silver fox. He is not. He does have a full head of thick white hair, but he also has a potbelly and mean, ferrety eyes.
Sherman smiled for real when Warren patted him on the shoulder. “Aren’t they all just lovely?”
My father nodded, then used his sincere voice. “They sure are, Warren. I’m so proud of Rory for making this choice.”
Gross. Even if he believes this is a real thing for me? An actual commitment to chastity? All he’s talked about since I first brought up the AVB is his wallet. Never his pride.
We were heading out the front door when Jinny grabbed my arm and asked in a baby voice