I drift off to sleep with her scent surrounding me, her face in my thoughts. I wake up to my cell phone ringing and I’m hopeful it’s her but it’s not.

It’s my dad.

Great.

“What’s up?” I try to infuse some cheeriness into my voice but I’m afraid it sounds false. I saw him only yesterday morning. What happened that he needs to call me within twenty-four hours of leaving me?

“I had a long talk with Adele last night,” he says, his voice grim.

My stomach lurches. Just hearing her name makes me sick. “Yeah?” God, what could she have said? What did she tell him?

“I’m reconsidering the divorce proceedings.”

Damn. Just when I thought we could have her out of our lives for good. “Why?”

“She swears she’s never been unfaithful to me. It’s all a bunch of vicious rumors spread by some women at the country club who hate her.” Dad pauses, takes a deep breath. “Should I believe her?”

“That’s not for me to tell you,” I automatically say because hell, no. I’m not playing any part in his decision.

Besides, I know she hasn’t been faithful to him—from personal experience.

God, I feel like I’m going to throw up.

“She’s messing with my head. She called me when I was driving back from seeing you and when I told her where I’d been, she freaked out. Demanded that I come and see her right away. So I went home and she…attacked me.”

I close my eyes, wishing he would shut up.

“She was crazed. Like she couldn’t get enough of me. I know you don’t want to hear it, but it was the best sex we’ve had in…years. I don’t get it. I don’t get her.”

“She’s using sex to keep you with her, Dad.” My voice is tight and I feel completely strung out. I hate hearing all of these details. Worse? I hate hearing that she attacked him after she knew he’d spent time with me.

What did that mean? I can only assume that maybe she thought of me when…

Fuck. I can’t finish the thought.

“She probably is,” Dad readily agrees. “But if she keeps it up, I might not be ready to let her go yet.”

He’s an idiot. I want to tell him that, but I keep my mouth shut. Their problems are none of my business. “I guess that’s up to you,” is all I say in response.

“Listen. We talked a lot last night, Adele and I. She wants you to come home for the summer. She says she misses you and wishes you were around more. And I agree. Could you consider it? For us?”

That would be a mighty hell no, but I’m not going to be a dick to my dad now. He’s still too fragile over this whole should-I-divorce-or-not deal with Adele. And look at her, trying to worm her way back into my life. Trying to get me to go back there. Does she think I’m an idiot? “I gotta go, Dad. Call me if you need to talk again.”

“Tell me you’ll at least consider it, son. Adele misses you and loves you so much. Ever since we lost Vanessa, she hasn’t been the same. You know this. You could bring some happiness back into her life.”

“See ya, Dad.” I hang up before he can say anything else. I don’t think I could stand it.

My appetite gone, my nerves shot, I pace around my apartment, completely on edge. I throw on some shoes and try and go for a run but all I can think about is my dad staying with Adele. Of her trying to convince me to go back home and spend the summer with them. I can’t go back there. Thanksgiving had been bad enough. I still haven’t fully accepted what she told me. It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around her revelation.

Could my little sister really have been my…daughter?

Panic fills me and I stop running, glancing around as I stand in the middle of the sidewalk. Wishing like hell I had someone to talk to. Anyone.

Fable.

But she’s at work. It’s late afternoon and her shift started at three or four. Hell, I can’t remember. I can’t waltz back into her life and lay the heavy shit on her anyway. I wish like hell it wasn’t a Sunday or I’d call Dr. Harris…

Deciding to hell with it, I yank my phone out of my sweats pocket and dial her number. She answers on the third ring.

“I’m surprised to hear from you on a Sunday,” is how she greets me. “Are you all right?”

“Not really,” I admit, thankful she doesn’t berate me for contacting her on her day off. “My dad called.”

“Hmm. That doesn’t sound good. Lucky you, I’m in the mood for a coffee. Want to meet for one in, say, twenty minutes?”

Relief floods me. How did I get so lucky to find Dr. Harris in the first place? Maybe this isn’t commonplace, her meeting a patient for coffee on a Sunday afternoon, but I need to get all this bullshit off my chest. Not just the bad stuff that happened with my dad, but also my night and morning with Fable. “I’ll be there,” I tell her after she rattles off an address of a nearby Starbucks.

* * * *

“So how do you feel about what your dad said?”

I take a drink of my iced coffee. “I’d rather he divorce her. I want her out of my life for good.”

“I thought Adele was already out of your life.” Doc looks at me in that certain way she has. The one that reminds me I’m an adult and I’m the one in charge of what happens to me.

“She is. But I want her out of my dad’s life too. As long as she’s still married to him, she’s a barrier between us. One I don’t want to cross,” I say with a finality I desperately want to believe in.