Any Other Girl by Phillips Rebecca

Author:Phillips, Rebecca [Phillips, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Social Issues, Love & Romance, Family, Juvenile Fiction, Homosexuality, Parents
ISBN: 9781617738821
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-01-25T18:30:00+00:00

chapter 16

“Do me a favor, would you, Katrina?”

I glanced up from the toenail I was painting and looked over at Dad, who was wedged behind our ancient fridge with a screwdriver in hand. It had conked out the day before, spoiling about a hundred dollars’ worth of groceries.

“Okay,” I said, expecting him to ask me to find the number of an experienced appliance technician. Dad was handy, but I still feared for his life when he messed around with electrical things. The fridge was unplugged, but still.

“Run over and ask Holly if she wants to come over for drinks tomorrow night. And her husband too, if he’s around.”

My nail polish brush froze a few inches above my pinky toe. “Emmett’s parents?” I said hesitantly.

“Yes.” His head popped out from behind the fridge. “Why? Do they not socialize together?”

No, they only scream at each other constantly and hey, guess what? He used to hit her, too. “I don’t know,” I said, going back to my nails.

“Well, can you go invite them? If I don’t stay here and fix this, we’ll be having peanut butter sandwiches again for dinner.”

“Can’t you just call? My nails are wet.”

He pulled the fridge out another few inches, grunting with the effort. “I don’t have their phone number. And it can wait until your nails dry.”

“Fine,” I muttered, capping the polish and clunking it on the kitchen table in front of me.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to run the errand for my dad. I just didn’t want to walk anywhere in the heat. Or see Emmett. Or invite his father over. Or possibly have Emmett hear me inviting his father over. If only Harper was here, I thought. She could go with me, maybe ease some of the tension. But she and her mom had gone to the walk-in clinic earlier to get Harper’s ankle checked out by a doctor. She thought she might have twisted something during her last soccer game. Besides, she was still embarrassed by her post-run flirting fail with Emmett the other day and would probably refuse to join me anyway.

However, when I got to the Reeses’ cottage a half hour or so later, I felt kind of grateful to be alone. World War Three was in full swing again, even louder than the first time I’d witnessed it. And on top of the yelling, it sounded like Mrs. Reese was crying. Now that I’d met her and seen how nice she was, how small and delicate, I wanted to run in there and shield her from potential harm, just like her son had done for me. Just like I tried to do in a different sort of way for my dads. But if Emmett—their own son—couldn’t get them to stop, what made me think I could?

Just as I was about to head back to the road, I spotted a glimmer of movement near the shoreline beyond the cottage. I moved in that direction, my flip-flops crunching over the brown, parched lawn.

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