Secrets, Lies, and Summer Skies

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The summer days when Grayson had been at work had always felt empty, but at least I could look forward to his return in the evening.

Ever since Dad had thrown him out of the house, it felt like I had nothing left.

Okay, so that was dramatic.

Obviously, I wasn't about to curl up and die from a broken heart like some frail heroine in a regency novel, but when my days were all about being under house arrest with nothing to entertain me but the television and pool, I felt completely devoid of happiness. Not even Jenny's visits were a consolation when Dad kept calling the landline to check that we'd kept our word and stayed indoors. Every half an hour I was expected to pick up the phone, otherwise, he'd drive back from his office at the nearby college to make sure I hadn't made a break for freedom.

And that was another thing; he wanted me to stay home because he could better keep an eye on me, but he was barely in the house.

When I tried to explain to Jenny how it felt to have a father who was so disappointed in me that he couldn't make eye contact with me anymore, she didn't see the problem. Her relationship with her parents was so dysfunctional that she didn't understand why it hurt more to know that I'd lost Dad's trust. I mean, I'd spent my life trying to stay on his good side. Trying to make him proud. I'd gone to college because I knew it was what he wanted for me. Yet, when I found someone who made me truly, blissfully happy, he behaved like I'd committed a crime or something.

All I'd done was fallen in love.

It just so happened that, in Dad's opinion, it had been with the wrong person.

The distance he'd put between us had only served to double the heartache I felt. Not seeing Grayson was bad enough, but to know that the only other man in my life that I loved and respected now hated me was too much to bear. I could hardly eat, hadn't slept properly in almost a week since Grayson had left, and hadn't had a single opportunity to talk to Dad about my plans for college. It wasn't the most pressing matter in my opinion, but the time to return loomed near. In fact, the only time he'd mentioned it, it had been to suggest that I spend my time packing for my return. The words were a slap in the face. It was like he was telling me that he couldn't wait to have me out of the house so that he didn't need to deal with me or the situation we'd found ourselves in.

The only good thing about my incarceration was that, as Dad had confiscated my cellphone, I hadn't been bothered by the silent calls. For all I knew, Dad had answered one and given Trey a piece of his mind, but I couldn't imagine he'd even switched it on since he'd taken it. I dreaded to think just how many messages and calls I'd missed. Some were probably from college. I just hoped he'd see sense and return it sooner rather than later. Of course, I fully intended to try to get in touch with Grayson the moment it was back in my hands, but that was my right. Deny it though he might, I was an adult, and I paid for my own phone bills. Dad had no right to stop me from having it, and he couldn't control who I spoke to.

So paranoid was my dad about my lines of communication that he'd taken my laptop, too. I got it back in the evenings when he was home, but I had to use it in the living room where he could check in on me, and he read my emails when I was done. It was such an invasion of privacy. As he'd pored over my inbox one evening, I'd vowed that, if I ever had kids, I'd never treat them the way he'd treated me. The whole exercise was futile, anyway. I'd never had Grayson's email address, so it wasn't like we were exchanging sexy love notes over the internet. All he'd find waiting in my email accounts were circulars from college and spam ads from companies I'd bought products from over the past few years.

But, as I said, I still had Jenny.

Dad watched our doorbell camera like a hawk on his camera app in case Grayson tried to visit while he was out, but he seemed okay with her dropping by. Funny, because I'd always been considered the more responsible in our friendship. I guessed since my escapades with Grayson he'd reassessed that opinion and hoped Jenny might be a good influence on me. Fat chance. Every time she was in the house, she'd come armed with some new plot to sneak me out so that Grayson and I could be together.