Page 89 of Love is Angry

“I have gained full access over mine, yes. The first thing I did was purchase certain properties that good ol’ Mr. Echeveria coveted but never got his hands on. I offered Mr. Willis one ofthe prime locations for his store and workshop. So, as I was saying, it’s taken care of.”

Laura’s gaze softens on me. Sometimes, I forget she’s barely seventeen. “You are such a good man, Rhue. Mom would be so proud.”

“I know she would.”

“And she would also tell you to be straight with Madison,” my sister adds, decidedly more on our mother’s side in terms of emotional intelligence. “You two deserve a chance.”

“Then she’d be double proud,” I tell her with a grin. “Madison and I talked last night.”

“Talked, huh,” Laura says, waggling her eyebrows. “Is that all?”

“Damn it all, she texted you already, didn’t she?”

Laura throws back her head and laughs. “No,” she says. “But you just gave yourself away!”

“You’re a brat,” I tell her as I rip off a piece of toast and chuck it at her. “But I’m not telling you anything else about it, so let it go. Madison can if she wants to.”

“How gentlemanly of you,” Laura says with a grin. She thinks for a minute, and her grin slowly fades. “Rhue—do you think Dad will stop there? Especially since you sort of undid his revenge while he was implementing it? You know how Dad can be.”

I give Steve a quick glance. “You’re making me nervous, man. Sit down or something.”

“I’m not done with breakfast,” he replies, pointing at the toaster.

“It’s not like you won’t hear them pop,” I tell him then nod at a chair. “Please.”

“If you say so,” he says. He fills a plate for himself and sits down, sighing heavily as he digs in.

“I don’t know,” I answer Laura finally. “But that’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. Can I see mom’s diary again, please?”

She gives me a curious look but reaches into the inner pocket of her chair and hands me the slender book. I flip to the page of horror and start reading through the various resolutions. At last contact, every one of them was alive and well; and every one of them had been given a small fortune or the trip of a lifetime for their trouble and didn’t want to rock the boat. The only two entries missing resolutions are Sibel’s and Maddie’s. Dad waited an entire year to bring the topic of compensation up to Maddie; what changed?

“Is Dad having some kind of financial trouble?” I ask, looking from Laura to Steve and back.

Laura frowns. “Not that I know of, unless he’s moving money around under the table. The campaign is still well within budget and I haven’t noticed any big lifestyle changes.”

“Stock market’s steady,” Steve adds. “And real estate value’s going up again.”

“So it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for him to avoid throwing money at a problem when he has consistently solved that problem that way.”

“You’re going to need some more nouns if you want me to follow that logic,” Laura says. “Maybe toss a verb or two in there, too.”

I hand the book back to her and steeple my fingers in front of me. “Up until now, he’s paid them all off. Every one of them—I suspect—except Madison.”

“Sibel doesn’t have a resolution written in here,” Laura points out.

“Yeah—but I went to see her yesterday. There’s no way she could afford the place she’s living in if she only had the pay she got from mom to spend on it.”

Laura gapes. “You went to see her? Why?”

“I had questions,” I tell her. “When you suggested that dad might have—well, it bothered me. I couldn’t leave it alone. I thought if anyone would know, it would be her.”

Laura leans forward, her eyes wide. “What did she say?”

I scowl down at my plate. “Same thing everybody else says,” I said. “That mom was hurting and hiding it from us. That she put up with it for so long and was blocked at every turn when she tried to address his behavior. That he knew how to push her buttons, he’s cruel, he drove her to it. Everybody thinks he pushed her over the edge—just not literally.”

Steve and Laura exchange knowing glances. “What?” I ask.

Laura hesitates for a long moment. Steve watches her face tensely. There’s something going on here, and I don’t like it at all.