The Winters by Lisa Gabriele

Author:Lisa Gabriele
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2018-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

I didn’t debate about whether to tell Max the next morning. I couldn’t keep this secret. I’d tell him as soon as possible, not only what she was doing up there but what she had said to me about him. All teenagers feel unloved and unseen by their parents at some point, I knew that. But of course he loved her, and he’d take it upon himself to demonstrate to Dani just how much, in ways that would be indisputable. At first, she’d be mad at me for breaking my promise. But soon she’d see it as the result of my growing affection for her.

I threw on sweats and splashed cold water on my face, then peered at my mouth in the bathroom mirror. My lips were still stained with Rebekah’s Red. I gave my mouth a final scrub with a hot cloth. Then I took a nailbrush to my stained fingers until they were pink. I pulled at the skin on my cheeks, noting my pores, the dusting of freckles. Should I start wearing makeup? My eyebrows did need plucking. Had they always been so unruly? All these years, while other girls and women were cultivating their vanity, my gaze had been elsewhere, on other people, on a horizon line, or on the dashboard of whatever boat I was piloting, not on my face and its flaws. Now suddenly they were all I could see. Even our rooms, once my cozy, dark oasis, now felt stuffy compared with Rebekah’s, my one closet a sad home for the few things I owned before yesterday’s spree. They were delivering the new clothes today. Maybe once I started wearing nicer outfits, Max would want to invite me to events.

From the top of the stairs, I was surprised to hear Dani, already up and laughing in the kitchen. How she was not incapacitated by a hangover was a testament to her youth—or the quality of the wine and pot.

When I entered the kitchen the two of them were positioned exactly as they had been my first night at Asherley, knees together, heads bowed towards each other, this time a kitten on Dani’s lap. When she saw me, her whole face lit up. Even Maggie came to attention, her ears perched high on her head.

“Good morning,” Dani said in a cheery voice. “I was just telling Daddy about our night.”

My gut sunk. “Oh?”

“Sounds like you guys had fun,” Max said, a hint of hope in his voice. I took a seat beside Dani and leaned over to scratch Maggie’s head. She’d gone from being a dirty little creampuff to a sleek, muscular kitten, with a gleaming, well-cared-for coat.

“What time did you get in?” I asked Max, entering the conversation cautiously.

“After two, I think,” he said. “I slept in the den so I wouldn’t wake you. I made scrambled eggs. I’ll heat some up for you.”

“No, they’re fine like this,” I said, spooning some onto a plate. “What else did you tell your dad?”

Dani shrugged. “That we hung out.

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