I hoped she interpreted as yes. I didn’t want to talk about his house, although I stored away in my mind the piece of information she’d just given me about no one coming here. Zeke said no one stayed here, but I didn’t know that meant he’d never had guests at all.
Of course, that might not be accurate. He didn’t have my family over. That didn’t mean people like the woman in the hotel who had wanted him right then and there hadn’t been. I shook my head. I was talking on the phone. I needed to focus.
“Yes, he took me home.” I should tell her what he’d said about Dad betraying him, about wanting something from me, except I didn’t. I chewed on my lip and considered why I wasn’t announcing what I knew right this second. Truth was I had no idea. Maybe because I’d been abandoned on a park bench.
I forced my mouth to work. “I’m not sure what happens next. I have all my stuff. I’m soaking my feet. What happened, Hope? Why are you and Bridget on a plane? And fuck, Justin. He… Well, I guess you know what he did.” I let myself say what I didn’t even want to think, let alone vocalize. “I wouldn’t have left you here.”
Her voice hitched and guilt assaulted me again. Why did I always feel like I couldn’t make them upset? In what way had I been reared to believe making my sisters upset was the worst thing I could possibly do?
Hope’s tears became my tears. I could hear her cry, and so I cried too. Was it all triplets, or was I the worst codependent person on the planet? It would be easier to talk to Bridget. She never cried. Not since we were children.
“Dad lost his mind. He ranted and raved the whole way to the airport. He was saying very weird things. I mean… I understand the business the way we all do.” I didn’t, but I wouldn’t get into that at the moment. “But he was saying things, and suddenly he seemed like he might have a heart attack. I was terrified to leave him. Justin got out of the car at the airport and told us what he’d done right before he took off. I was terrified, not sure what to do. And then I thought of Zeke. Dad said that if we didn’t get on the plane, he was cutting us all out. Justin ran off. I…I panicked. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t…”
I stopped listening. I actually understood. Plus, she thought Zeke would put me on a plane. Very little muss, very little fuss. She’d have helped me back in New York City. Hope wasn’t abandoning me.
And Bridget would have just trusted Hope to handle it because that was what Hope did. Guilt weighed on my shoulders. “Hope, you didn’t make me do what I did today. And you sent Zeke for me. I’m sorry I just…emotionally bashed you.”
She laughed, and I was able to take a deep breath again. “I’m so glad you didn’t marry that man. I hated Kit the second I met him. He’s not good for you. Doesn’t see you for all your beauty on the inside. I don’t know anyone who gives and gives the way that you do and expects nothing in return.”
I closed my eyes. “That’s not me. That’s Mother Theresa.”
“Oh, Layla. Hold on a second.” There was noise in the background. “Sorry, listen, they’re asking us to sit. I love you. Come home tomorrow. I’ll come and be with you. Until we get this all sorted out. I know we can fix things with Dad.”
That was the thing. I didn’t want to sort things with Dad. Not anymore. Maybe not again. “I love you.”
I disconnected the call and managed to take off my undergarments without too much pain before I lowered myself into the water. The next time I ran from a wedding, I was going to make sure I was wearing sneakers. I let my hand hang over the side of the bathtub so my phone didn’t get wet. With a sigh, since I felt about two hundred years old, I leaned my head back and tried to relax. My poor feet were throbbing.
Or better yet, if I ever had another wedding—and sitting where I was now, I doubted that would ever happen because I was going to be paying my father back for this one for the