the excuses.”
“Sorry.”
“Oh, you don’t even know sorry yet.”
I hear his footsteps approaching the door, so I scurry back to the living room. Carter comes walking out, sits on a chair, and takes a long, deep breath.
“I need a moment to calm down,” he says.
“Good idea.”
His eyes fly to mine. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, Nora.”
“I’m fine. I wasn’t last night, but I’m better this morning. The thing is, Carter, there’s more to tell you. You marched back there before I could say anything.”
“There’s more? For fuck’s sake, she was in bed when I last talked to you.”
“I know.” I pass him her phone. “It’s all on there.”
I’m quiet for the next ten minutes as he scrolls through her phone, his face going from interest, to frustration, to pure rage.
“I’ll fucking kill him.” His voice is scarily quiet. “And then I’ll kill her.”
“I think threatening him will do the trick,” I say, my voice brisk and business-like. “And her as well.”
“She’s twelve.” He looks at me with helpless confusion written all over his face. “How in the ever-loving hell does this happen at twelve?”
“Oh, I’m sure this is nothing compared to some. Be thankful she never sent him nudes.”
He pales now and I hear Gabby open the door of her bedroom. She walks carefully into the room, her eyes big, tears brimming.
“Dad?”
His eyes don’t leave mine.
“What.”
“Dad, I’m really sorry.” Her lower lip is quivering now. “I didn’t mean all the things I said. I’m really sorry. Honest.”
“I’m not the only one you need to apologize to,” he says, still not looking her in the eye. The screen of her phone is dark now, but he’s staring at it, as if he’s still seeing the messages.
“I’m sorry, Nora,” she says softly. “I would never really hit you.”
I don’t say anything in reply because I’m not convinced she means it but is using this as a means to get her phone back.
“I mean it,” she insists and lets a tear fall down her cheek. “I don’t know why I get so mad.”
“Gabby,” Carter begins, his voice calmer now. “We have a lot of talking to do. We need to get to the bottom of your behavior over the past few weeks. Has someone hurt you? Said something to you?”
“No.” She looks miserable now, clamping her lips shut and shaking her head slowly. “No one hurt me.”
Carter sighs and reaches out for her hand. The worst of the storm is over, but the aftermath is going to be brutal for this little girl.
“I love you more than life itself. And I’m happy to help you in any way I can, always. But I need you to meet me halfway.”
She nods and wipes at her tears. “I will. I promise, I will.”
“Starting today.”
She nods, hope sparking in her eyes.
And here it comes.
“Can I please have my phone back?”
Carter’s face goes cold again, and he sits back, watching his daughter with calculating eyes.
“You have a lot of nerve to walk in here and ask for your phone back, as if you’ve done nothing wrong.”
“I apologized.”
“Yes. But we haven’t even addressed the fact that you downloaded an app that I said no to, before you even asked me.”
Her eyes go big again, and I can see panic spreading through her.
“As if that’s not enough, you’ve been talking to men on there. Giving them our address and promising to sneak them into my house.”
“Dad—”
“No.” The word cuts through anything she was about to say. “There is absolutely no excuse for any of this. You know right from wrong, Gabby, and every bit of this is wrong.”
“I know.” It’s a whisper.
“I’ll be calling this man you’ve been texting with.”
“Dad—”
“And I’ll explain, plainly so he can understand, that if he ever contacts you again, I’ll ruin his life.”
I feel my own eyes go wide at that statement. I’ve never been afraid of Carter.
The tone of his voice right now would terrify me if it were aimed at me.
“At this point, you may never get this phone back.”
She swallows hard, realizing that he means business, and that she’s screwed up bad.
“You can spend the rest of the day in your room.”
“Fine. I’ll watch TV.”
Carter laughs now. “No. You’ve lost all privileges for the foreseeable future. I’m sure you have plenty of homework to keep you busy, since you were suspended for telling your teacher to fuck off.”
She swallows hard again.
“I’m going to put this in the safe where you can’t sneak it.”
He stands and leaves the room, headed for the