Breaking Ties by Tracie Puckett Read Free Book Online Page B

had suddenly decided to marry Dad’s best friend on a whim?
    “Something’s happened,” Bailey continued. “Best I can guess, she’s tying up loose ends. She’s after redemption. She wants to hear that we’re okay, that we forgive her … that she has our blessing to move on.”
    “Did she say that?”
    “Does she have to?” she asked, and I could tell by her guilt-ridden expression that she hadn’t given Mom the chance to explain herself. Bailey took what little she had and drew assumptions, and something told me that she wasn’t so far off. “She didn’t have to say it. She’s already said enough.”
    “But why’s it matter?” I asked. “Why now?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Are you going to keep ignoring her calls?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “What are you going to say?”
    “ I don’t know, Mandy,” she said, her stare fading into something sadder. “I don’t even want to think about her, let alone talk to her. I don’t have anything left to say. She’s ancient history. We broke that tie a long time ago, and she knows it. She knows she messed up. But it doesn’t matter. She’s the past. I just wish she’d stay in the past where she belongs.”
    “Right,” I nodded. I understood that more than my sister could ever know. “I have to go in and talk to Dad before it gets any later. Are you okay?”
    “Yeah.”
    I wasn’t sure I believed her, but something told me I wasn’t going to get anything other than a lie out of her tonight.
    “Tell the guys goodnight for me?”
    “I will,” she promised, turning back to the band. She crossed her arms at her chest, a scowl marking her face as she looked at the group of boys in front of her. She wasn’t watching them anymore. Just the mention of Mom had pulled her right back into her funk.
    That was my fault. I should’ve let it go. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. But I did, and now my sister was hurting all over again.
    ###
    “I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you haven’t changed your mind about tomorrow,” I said, slinging my bag on the kitchen counter. After school, I had an immediate shift at work. After closing down the bakery and heading for home, I decided to take my friend’s advice to heart. I needed to ask Dad about the date again. But when I ran into Bailey in the garage, I couldn’t decide if talking to Dad right now was the best idea, especially now that I knew for certain that the source of his anger was Mom.
    But what did he know about the current situation? Had Bailey just mentioned our mother, or had she told him everything she knew? I could see it going either way; I knew better than anyone how a simple mention of Mom could make a person act so irrationally.
    Maybe all Dad needed was a chance to breathe, to unwind. Maybe there was a chance he could’ve changed his mind …
    It was a new day, and since time wasn’t on my side, I had to say something. My date with Gabe was only mere hours away, and I had to give it one last shot. The least Dad could say was no. And if he said no, then I had to trust my instincts and do what I felt was right.
    Even if what I felt was right was probably very, very wrong.
    “Dad?”
    At the sound of my voice, he stopped poking around in the refrigerator, stood straight, and shut the door, empty-handed. He turned and glared at me—all the indication that I needed that he wasn’t in the mood to think about changing his mind.
    “Okay, here’s the thing,” I said, hoping that a little light-hearted teasing would get us back to where we were before Bailey’s colossal breakdown yesterday had somehow ruined my life. “Last night was intense. You said some things, I said some things, and I think we might’ve overreacted a bit.”
    Dad grumbled under his breath and started to turn out of the kitchen.
    “Don’t,” I begged, taking a step forward. “Please. I need you to hear me out.”
    He stopped, turned back, and we both looked down to the hand I’d placed on his arm