a second? There’s no need for anyone to bite anyone else’s head off,” I said, taking a step to the side so I could see both Connor and my dad at the same time.
My dad and Connor had only interacted with each other a handful of times, as far as I knew, but each one had been worse than the last. In high school, my dad had known Connor as a classmate and occasional project partner, and he’d never hidden his feelings about him, even back then.
“Don’t take that tone with me, boy,” my dad rumbled, at the same time that Connor said, “I’m not biting anything. I’m merely asking your father to explain what he meant. As a minister, I’d imagine he’d welcome the opportunity to do so.”
“You’re both being inflammatory, and you know it.” I held my hands out to either side like I was trying to stop a fistfight. Given Connor and my father’s propensities, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. “Let’s start from the beginning. Dad, Connor and I have been working together on the committee to save McIntyre Beach. Connor’s here to pick up his dog. I volunteered to watch her last night.”
The look Connor gave me said he was disgusted by my lie—but it was no less disgusted than the one on my dad’s face.
“You’re voluntarily spending time with this man?”
“I’m not voluntarily spending time with—” I cut myself off as Connor’s face darkened. “Look, we were just—I was just watching his dog. It’s not a big deal. I’ll get her, Connor can take her home, and that’s that.”
“That’s that,” Connor repeated, a bitter smile on his face. “Far be it from me to interrupt family time. I know how important they are to you, Julian.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised you would mock that,” my dad said. “Seeing the depths to which your family has sunk, of course you couldn’t understand the primacy of—”
“You leave my family out of this, or I’ll—”
“Jesus, please, can everyone just take a breath for a second?” I begged. “Dad, will you please wait in the living room while I talk to Connor? This will only take a minute.”
“It doesn’t even need to take that long,” Connor said, his voice cold. “If you’d just let me get Roxie, I’ll be out of your hair. For good.”
“I wouldn’t trust a word out of that boy’s mouth,” my dad warned. “Nothing but sin and faithlessness in that bloodline. And watch your language.”
“If you have something to say about my family, just say it,” Connor spat.
“I believe I just did.” My dad’s voice was surprisingly mild, probably because he thought he had the upper hand. “With the exception of your grandparents, whose existence you have burdened since birth, no one in your family has had the slightest respect for authority—either civil or spiritual—and it’s hardly surprising that such immoral living has brought such tragedy into your lives. You should be grateful it hasn’t been worse. The Lord has truly shown you mercy.”
“Are you seriously suggesting that my parents died in a car crash because they didn’t go to church?” Connor’s voice was scathing. “That my mom got sick because she didn’t toe some invisible line of obedience? And that was God being merciful?”
“I say nothing that the Bible hasn’t said time and time again. A repentant man might look for a lesson in that.”
“Fucking hell,” Connor growled. “I knew you were cruel, but I didn’t realize you were so completely unhinged.”
My dad stepped towards him, his right hand curling into a fist. “I’d watch that mouth if you don’t want to receive another kind of lesson.”
“Enough!” I shouted. Both Connor and my dad turned to stare at me, and I wondered if they’d forgotten I was there. “Connor, come into the kitchen while I get Roxie. Dad, stay here.”
I grabbed Connor’s hand and tugged him down the hall two steps—before I saw my dad staring at me and dropped it. Still, it seemed like I’d finally gotten through to both of them, because Connor followed hard on my heels and my dad, glare though he did, stayed where he was.
“Just let me get Roxie,” I said, crossing the kitchen to the back door. “She’s outside on the longline with Gretchen.”
“Right.” The scorn in Connor’s voice was thick. “Gotta get back to dear old Dad as fast as possible.”
“Actually, I thought it was you who wanted to get out of here,” I said, turning to glare at him. “Or are you enjoying