On Gin Lane by Brooke Lea Foster

Author:Brooke Lea Foster
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2022-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

Everleigh called into work that Tuesday, spending the morning moping about the cottage in her nightgown, eating from a pint of ice cream and picking at blueberries she’d bought to make a pie. She couldn’t focus enough to read or summon the energy to turn on the stove. A wave of anger would take hold of her, and she’d see her father’s pinched face sneering. Minutes later, she’d fall into a heap on her mattress, envisioning water pooling in her mother’s eyes. Still, there were moments of clarity. She began forming an argument in her head about why it was good that her parents had revoked her trust: for one, she wouldn’t have to return to the city at all this summer.

With Roland working at the hotel, Everleigh picked up the phone. She would have to face her parents at some point. After she exchanged pleasantries with Nanny, neither of them acknowledging the elephant in the room, her father blustered onto the line. “You may think that what we’re doing is harsh, but your mother and I are both in agreement. Do not give Roland another dime of our money. I’ve given him plenty, and I expect you both to pay me back for what you stole.”

“So that’s it. I’m a thief, and you’re setting me loose, your criminal daughter.” She put her hand on her hip, wiped her wet eyes. “I was only lending it to him, Daddy.”

“And I had to hear about this radical you’re spending time with from Alice’s parents the other night. The embarrassment, Lee.”

“And what if I quit that job and come home?”

There was a long pause, and she could hear voices in the background, perhaps a television laugh track. “Are you coming home?” he asked.

Everleigh considered this. She hadn’t called home with bargaining in mind, and it had occurred to her last night that she could end this and do just as her parents wanted. Get on the Long Island Railroad and return to Pennsylvania Station, hop in a cab, and, after chatting with her favorite doorman, ride the elevator up to the fourth floor where they lived. But the thought turned the floor underneath her feet to quicksand. Everleigh was tired of her parents dictating her every decision. She’d asserted herself to them for the first time in her life, and their response was to cancel her trust. Was this to remind her that she didn’t have any say in her life at all? It was maddening.

Everleigh glanced out the cottage window, thinking about her mother. She wasn’t getting on the phone, and that could only mean one thing: she was too upset to talk.

“Roland needs to look outside our family for help,” her father said. “And Everleigh, I swear it, you need to stop gallivanting in Southampton as though your reputation—our reputation—isn’t on the line here. Because it is. Now, are you coming home?”

Her reputation? She hated that her parents were always reminding her of how other people saw her. If her

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