Just Remember to Breathe (Thompson Sisters)

enough for me.” I turned on my father. “When the man I loved was in the hospital near death, about to lose his leg, you kicked him while he was down! And you lied to me about it! Don’t talk to me about what you knew or didn’t know, Dad. Don’t ever talk about what you knew.”
    Dad’s face had gone completely pale. Julia looked at him, disgusted, and said, “Is this true?”
    Dad closed his eyes, then nodded once. After a long time, he muttered, “Perhaps I was wrong.”
    Carrie took my hand, and said, “You can be sorry all you want, Dad. But right now, this family has a problem. Because Dylan and Alex love each other. And you’ve got a choice, Dad. You can keep up your pretense, keep trying to script all of our lives right down to who we love. Or you can get behind your family and support them. Alex, let’s go upstairs. You don’t need this right now.”
    She pulled me up and I followed her, still in shock.
    “Stop,” my father said. Carrie’s back went straight, and I turned, facing him.
    He looked different. Smaller somehow. Less sure of himself. I took a deep breath, ready to shout a denial in his face, when he said, “It’s true? Dylan… he… intervened and stopped Randy from assaulting you?”
    I nodded, slowly.
    He returned my nod, then said, “Well. It seems I’ve misjudged your young man. And… Alexandra… I’m sorry. I’m not going to ask for your forgiveness. Not now. But… I will ask you to allow me a chance. To make up for it.”
    My lower lip started trembling uncontrollably, and he blurred in my vision. I looked at my dad, and nodded. That was all he needed to hear. He came around the table and took me in his arms. Then I felt my sisters surround me, even Jessica and Sarah, as they all put their arms around me in a huge hug. I felt the muscles in my body go limp as my family held me up, enfolding me, somehow making the pain smaller, more manageable.
    What seemed like a long time passed before we broke up, then resumed our seats at the table. My mother had tears in her eyes, as I did.
    Crank smiled at me, then playfully said, “That’s what I love about family dinners. There’s never a dull moment.”
    That’s when the doorbell rang.
    My mother muttered, “Dear God, who can that be? Dinner will be ice cold before anyone gets more than a bite.”
    “I’ll get it,” Sarah said, just as Jessica stood up. They looked at each other, the first look I’d seen between them in two days that wasn’t a glare. Then, wordlessly, they both left the dining room.
    Two minutes later, I heard Sarah call from the front door. “Alexandra! You need to come to the door!”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

    On index cards? (Dylan)

    “This is it,” I told the cab driver.
    The meter said forty-five dollars. Christ on a crutch. I passed the driver the money, then opened the door and slid out. I only had a small backpack on me. Leaving New York, I figured a change or two of clothes would be more than enough. This might be a very short trip, after all. And even if it wasn’t, I could always figure out something for clothes. Waiting for an hour to get luggage when I could be here instead? That was something else entirely.
    I stared at the house in front of me. Jesus, how it had intimidated me when I visited her two years ago. Working-class me, growing up in crappy apartments with drunk parents. How did I dare to chase after the rich daughter of an ambassador with a five-story house in the heart of the most expensive city in America? I was nuts.
    Not nuts enough, not then. I’d let her life, her father, my past, all of it, intimidate me.
    I took a deep breath, then stepped forward and firmly rang the doorbell.
    Jesus, I hoped Sherman had pulled it off and kept Alex here. It would not go well for me if her father answered while she was out at the movies or something.
    I heard the pounding of footsteps, and then the door opened suddenly, and I was faced with two open-mouthed sixteen-year-olds.
    “Hey,” I said uncomfortably. “You must be Sarah and Jessica… I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Dylan.”
    The darker one, who wore a tight black dress that would make a nun blush, put her hands over her face in shock. The other one, in a white dress, said, “I remember you. And yes, I’m Jessica.”
    Her twin, Sarah, turned around and shouted up the stairs. “Alex! You need to come to the door!”
    I grinned. “Awesome. Um… I don’t know if I’ll see you again, because I don’t know if