Chapter Twelve

Crystal arrived at her parents’ house with just moments to spare. Apparently, Ella was running even later, because there was no sign of her car there. Grabbing her phone, she texted a quick Where are you? You know how Mom gets when we’re late.

She was on the front walkway when Ella texted back. What are you talking about?

Crystal froze, quickly replying with Mandatory family dinner at the parents. We’re supposed to be here at seven. Did you forget?

When she read her sister’s next message, she wanted to drop, roll, and run. She didn’t contact me, Crys. Oh crap, ambush, run!

She was backing away when the front door flung open and her mother stood on the threshold with her hands on her hips. “Honey, what are you doing out here?” Then, as if she couldn’t resist, she sweetly added, “You’re a little late. I was afraid you’d had an accident or something.” Crystal could feel her phone chiming away with no-doubt-frantic messages from Ella, but it was too late now. She had officially entered the den of the spider, and escaping that particular web before she was released would be damn near impossible. And what was with the endearment? Why was her mother trying to be pleasant? That was even more frightening than the idea of a good verbal lashing.

“Er—where’s Ella?” she asked, as if she didn’t already know.

“Oh, you know how busy she is now, with the new baby.” Her mother waved her hand as if to say, What’re you gonna do? “Plus, Declan doesn’t like to visit, so why force the issue?”

A sense of foreboding washed over her as she thought, This is bad. Her mother had taken only a small dig at Declan instead of her usual rant over her son-in-law. Either she was trying to turn over a new leaf or something was up in a big way. “We can do it another time,” Crystal offered, hoping the desperate tone in her voice wasn’t readily apparent.

Motioning to the still-open door, her mother said, “Oh, nonsense. Come on in.”

Seeing no other choice, she edged around her mother and into the hallway of the house she’d grown up in. Not one for change, her mother was still clinging to the dark paneling on the walls that made the whole space seem small and dark.

Her father appeared just as her mother walked off to check on dinner. “Crystal—it’s good to see you,” he said before dropping a kiss on her forehead. Before he moved away, his voice dropped to a near whisper as he added, “Your mother invited Bill. I tried to talk her out of it, but you know how she is when she makes up her mind.”

“Are you serious?” Crystal asked in a shrill voice just as there was a knock on the door behind her. Her father gave her an apologetic half smile before opening the door to her ex-husband. She didn’t even know why she was so surprised. Her mother did what she wanted, and in order to keep the peace, her father refrained from making waves. He’d managed to stand up to his wife a couple of times that Crystal could recall, the last being when Ella was in the hospital after being hit by a neglectful driver while she was crossing the street. Their father had kept her firmly in place then, refusing to let her continue to make snide comments to Ella’s friends in the waiting room. That had been his last stand. He hadn’t bothered to intervene as his wife continued to verbally bully his other daughter over her divorce and whatever else she could find fault with. Crystal loved him because, well, he was her father, but she’d lost her respect for the man years ago. He wasn’t the head of the family—he’d abandoned that position without a fight.

“Bill, good to see you again.” She heard him greet her ex-husband as warmly as if he were the long-lost son returning from war. In this household, it was obvious that Bill was the favorite and she was the disappointment. Oh, how she wished that she had the backbone to walk out and leave them all to gush over each other. But no, like the glutton for punishment that she was, she plastered on a smile and tried not to cringe when Bill stepped forward to kiss her cheek.

“How are you, Crystal?” he asked, sounding so formal she had a hard time remembering that she’d actually been married to the man for years. They’d had sex hundreds of times—maybe not good sex, but they’d joined together for brief encounters. How was it that they seemed so much like strangers now in such a short amount of time? It drove home to her the fact that she’d never really known him, and she certainly hadn’t understood what love was when she’d said I do.

“I’m great,” she finally replied to his question halfheartedly. Before she was forced to make further conversation, her mother rounded the corner and fussed over him as if he were some visiting dignitary.

“Bill, I’m so glad you could come tonight. It’s been far too long since you two have been over for dinner.” Crystal could only gape as her mother acted as if their divorce had never happened. She was almost afraid she would next be asking when they planned to have a baby.

Crystal stepped back from where her parents gathered around Bill and studied the man who’d once been her husband. She found it hard to believe that she’d ever thought him handsome, although many women would probably find him attractive. His brown hair was thick, and he kept it neatly styled. He pressed his dress pants perfectly, and his polo shirt had creases down the sleeves. She knew for a fact that he spent close to ten minutes picking any new lint off his black socks in the morning. He was so well put together that she’d always felt frumpy compared to him. Of course, the fact that he’d made subtle comments about her appearance hadn’t helped.