Liz stayed the night and had breakfast with the family the next morning. Vanessa served up eggs and bacon while gushing about their “marvelous” honeymoon.
“It really helped, the getting away,” she said, adding another strip of bacon to each of her daughters’ plates. “It was the perfect way to close out the old chapter of our lives and open up a new one.”
Liz sighed. The old chapter didn’t seem closed at all, at least not for her and her father. If anything, Dorian and Warwick had brought them a book they’d never intended reading yet still knew intimately.
“More bacon, sweetie?” Vanessa asked, turning her way.
“What I’d prefer…” Liz grumbled, “are more answers. Heck, any answers.”
“Liz…” her father warned.
“I’ve got this, dear,” Vanessa said, setting the fry pan back on the stove and then taking a seat at the table. She turned toward Liz. “Sometimes no answer is the best answer you can hope for.”
Liz huffed. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“You don’t see Tori and Val demanding an explanation, do you?”
Her stepsisters looked up at her briefly, than back toward their plates.
“The fact of the matter is, we all make mistakes from time to time. And we shouldn’t have to live with them forever, should we?”
Liz’s father began to rise from his chair. “Vanessa, I—”
His wife raised her hand, cutting him off midsentence. “It’s okay, Ben. Let me take care of this.”
She turned to Liz once more and took on a syrupy sweet tone. “The point is, sometimes we just need to move on with our day.”
Liz glanced at her father, who was nodding adamantly. “Dad? Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”
He cleared his throat. “Vanessa is right. We just need to do our best to move on.”
“But he broke into our house. He—”
“Enough,” he said firmly.
Liz pushed her chair back. She needed to get out of there before she exploded with rage. Her father had never kept things from her before. Never. And for him to confide in Vanessa instead of her stung deeply.
“If you won’t give me the answers, I’ll find someone who will.” She grabbed another piece of bacon and popped it in her mouth before turning on heel and stalking out of the room.
She expected her father to follow her out of the kitchen, to at last agree to talk. But this new version of the man she’d always known inside out shocked her once more by simply letting her go.
Less than ten minutes later, Liz had packed up her belongings, and she and Samson were on their way back home to the apartment.
Their two Husky roommates, Fantine and Cosette, greeted them at the door with excited howls and lots of licks.
Samson dropped to his elbows and broofed, inviting his friends to take part in a wrestling match. The dogs yipped and growled and made such a ruckus with their joy that it woke Scarlett, who had still been in bed when they arrived. Liz often wondered how her sleepy friend had managed to wake up at the crack of dawn for nearly a year as she was training for the Iditarod.
“Liz?” Scarlett asked around a yawn. “Is it Tuesday already?”
Liz laughed. It felt so good to be home. “No, sleepyhead. My dad and Vanessa came back early.”
“Okay.” She yawned again. “What time is it? Is there more time to sleep?”
“Like, ten?” Liz guessed, but when they looked toward the microwave clock, they found it was actually closer to eleven.
Scarlett’s eyes popped wide open and she raced back down the hall. “Shoot, shoot, shoot!” she cried.
“What’s going on?” Liz smiled. Scarlett drama she could take all day long. It felt like a nice reprieve from the past week. It felt like coming home.
“I’m supposed to meet Henry. There’s a race today, and we were going to go cheer our friends on.” Her roommate raced up and down the apartment before returning to the kitchen with her toothbrush in one hand and a tube of paste in the other. As she readied her brush, she said, “Hey, since you’re back, want to come?”
Liz wondered if her father planned to attend due to his unexpected early return home. She just wasn’t ready to face him yet. Not until she knew more about what was going on and why he was hiding what he knew.
“Sure,” Liz said with a laugh. “I could use a change of scenery.”
“And you want to spend time with me before I head to Texas for a week, right?” Scarlett asked after spitting a huge wad of paste into the sink.
“Ugh, I forgot about that. Do you have to go?” Liz hated the thought of staying alone in the apartment. Sure, she’d have the dogs, but would they be enough to keep Warwick away if he decided to pay her a visit?
Scarlett patted her on the shoulder as she passed by on her way toward her bedroom. “‘Fraid so, but don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it.”
Oh, how Liz hoped she was right. Because it was beginning to feel as if everyone in her life was systematically abandoning her when she needed them the most.