Chapter 15

I was preparing breakfast when I heard a loud banging at the door. Lizzie came out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in her mouth. Our eyes locked on each other’s.

“What kind of car does your father drive?” I asked as I pulled the curtain aside with a finger and peered down at the street below.

“A black Mercedes coupe.”

“That’s definitely him.”

“He does that all the time.” she laid a hand on my shoulder as she rose up on her tiptoes to peer out as well.

I turned to her. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t want you to talk with him right now,” she quickly replied, feeling rather horrified by the prospect. “Let him bang on the door until he’s red in the face. This is none of his business.”

“Your father, your call. He must have seen your car parked on the street.”

“I don’t care.”

I shot her a look. “Are you sure about that?”

She considered it a moment and relented, but only slightly. “If I thought he was here to make amends and apologize for the things he said the other day, I’d go down there and talk to him, but I can tell by the way he’s banging on the door that he just wants to drag me home by the ear.”

“He looks pretty angry,” I said, peeking again through the window.

“I assure you, if you answer the door, he’ll end up face down on the pavement with his hands behind his back.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

She could see I still wasn’t sure, so she pleaded, “Please, Nick I don’t want to see him. I’m not ready. I promise I’ll talk to him eventually, when I get everything sorted out.”

I stared at her intently for a moment, then I conceded.

We both looked out the window again. Mr. Reynolds was returning to his car.

“There, see?” she said. “He’s leaving. We’re off the hook.”

“At least for today.” I turned to face her. “Now what?”

“I want to email J.J. I just hope he’ll be willing to talk to me.”