Entwined With You

then?” I muttered.
    “Oh, I’m sure I can think of something.”
    “Sex, right?” I shook my head. “I’ve created a monster.”
    “Don’t forget work—together.”
    “Oh my God. You don’t quit.”
    He crunched on a chip and swallowed. “I want you to see the revamped Crossroads and Cross Industries websites when we’re done with lunch.”
    I wiped my mouth with a napkin. “Really? That was fast. I’m impressed.”
    “Let’s have you look at them first before you decide that.”
    G IDEON knew me well. Work was my escape and he put me to it. He set me up with his laptop in the living room, made my phone stop ringing, then went into his office to call my mother.
    For the first few minutes after he’d left me alone, I listened to the low murmur of his voice and tried to focus on the websites he’d pulled up for me, but it was no use. I was too scattered to pay attention. I ended up calling Cary instead.
    “Where the fuck are you?” he barked by way of greeting.
    “I know it’s been crazy,” I said quickly, having no doubt my mother and father would’ve been calling the apartment Cary and I shared when I didn’t answer my smartphone. “I’m sorry.”
    The background noise on Cary’s end told me he was somewhere out on the streets.
    “Mind telling me what’s going on? Everyone’s calling me—your parents, Stanton, Clancy. They’re all looking for you and you’re not answering your cell. I’ve been freaking out wondering what happened to you!”
    Crap. I closed my eyes. “My dad found out about Nathan.”
    He was silent, the sounds of distant traffic and honking the only indication he was still on the line. Then, “Holy shit. Oh, baby girl. That’s bad.”
    The compassion in his voice made my throat too tight to speak. I didn’t want to cry any more.
    The background noise suddenly muted, as if he’d stepped into someplace quiet. “How is he?” Cary asked.
    “He’s torn up. God, Cary, it was
awful
. I think he was crying. And he’s furious with Mom. That’s probably why she’s calling so much.”
    “What’s he going to do?”
    “He’s flying out to New York. I don’t know when, but he said he’d be calling when he landed.”
    “He’s flying out
now
? Like today?”
    “I think so,” I said miserably. “I’m not sure how he’s managing to get time off work again so soon.”
    “I’ll fix up the guest room when I get home, if you haven’t done it already.”
    “I’ll take care of it. Where are you?”
    “Catching lunch and a matinee with Tatiana. I had to get out for a while.”
    “I’m so sorry you’ve been fielding my calls.”
    “Not a big deal,” he dismissed, in his usual Cary way. “I was more worried than anything. You haven’t been around much lately. I don’t know what you’re doing or
who
you’re doing. You’re not acting like yourself.”
    The note of accusation in his tone deepened my remorse, but there was nothing I could share. “I’m sorry.”
    He waited, as if for an explanation, then said something under his breath. “I’ll be home in a couple hours.”
    “All right. See you then.”
    I hung up, then called my stepfather.
    “Eva.”
    “Hi, Richard.” I dug right in. “Did my dad call Mom?”
    “Just a moment.” There was silence on the phone for a minute or two, then I heard a door shut. “He did call, yes. It was … unpleasant for your mother. This weekend has been very hard on her. She’s not well, and I’m concerned.”
    “This is hard on all of us,” I said. “I wanted to let you know that mydad is coming back to New York and I’ll need to spend some quiet time with him.”
    “You need to talk to Victor about being a little more understanding of what your mother went through. She was on her own, with a traumatized child.”
    “You need to understand that we’ve got to give him time to come to grips with this,” I shot back. My tone was harsher than I intended, but reflective of my feelings. I was not going to be forced to take sides between my parents. “And I need you to deal with Mom and get her to stop calling me and Cary nonstop. Talk to Dr. Petersen if you have to,” I suggested, referring to my mother’s therapist.
    “Monica’s on the phone now. I’ll discuss it with her when she’s free.”
    “Don’t just discuss it. Do something about it. Hide the phones somewhere if that’s what it takes.”
    “That’s extreme. And unnecessary.”
    “Not if she doesn’t quit!” My fingers drummed