Deceptive Cadence (38 page)

THIRTY-FOUR

I couldn’t believe Dusty had the balls to ask Geri to come, but apparently she loved the idea of observing Dad and the two guys dating his daughters all in the same room.

She arrived first. She dragged me straight to my room, where she made predictions on how long it would take Dad to completely lose it. She said Daniel would probably hit the first nerve, not knowing how touchy Dad could be, while someone would definitely say something about James that would provoke him. The last straw would be if someone brought up either me or Harper sleeping with them.

Dusty entered and flicked her shoulder. “Hey, you’re supposed to be my date, woman.”

“Whatever.” She waved her hand at him as she focused entirely on me. “Your mum’s gonna end up with a migraine tomorrow from the stress of keeping your dad under control.”

I rubbed my temple. “I just hope we still have a roof over our heads by the end of the night.”

Geri laughed. Dusty watched her, smiling affectionately. I cleared my throat and he snapped out of it.

“So, Geri,” I said. “How’s things with Cody?”

Dusty scowled at me.

Geri sighed. “I don’t know. We’ve done a few things together over the holidays, but I just don’t feel like he’s what I want.”

Dusty’s face lit up.

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“Well, he’s nice and all, but I want a guy who makes me laugh and keeps me on my toes.”

“Kinda like Dusty here.” I winked at her.

He glared at me.

She giggled, patting his leg. “Kinda, except without the whole brotherly thing. That’s just weird.”

He huffed.

“Dinner!” Mum called.

Geri and I exchanged confused glances. “But . . .”

Geri nodded. “Yeah. What about James and Daniel?”

We hurried to the living room. They both stood by the wall, their heads down. Dad stood in front of them, his arms folded, legs slightly splayed, looking fierce and dominant. Harper stood back by the entry to the dining room, looking angrier than ever.

James glanced across at me, and his head lifted. “Hey, beautiful.”

“Hi, Ja―”

“Hush, boy!” Dad snapped his fingers.

James sighed. “You know, I’ve done this particular grilling about a hundred times before. I’ve even had some worse―”

“Shut up!” Dad moved in and met James’ gaze. “Then you should know the rules.”

James took a deep breath and recited, “No touching of any kind. No hand holding, no footsies, and definitely no kissing. There’s to be no prolonged staring, and no whispering.”

“Very good,” Dad stepped back.

“I’m not finished,” James said with a sly grin.

Dad turned to him. “Excuse me?”

I slapped my forehead, dreading what he had come up with.

“You heard me. There’s more. There
will
be brownnosing, begging, pleading, panicking over being a minute late, long lectures―”

Dad growled and shoved James’ chest. He turned to Daniel and looked him over. “The last rule: Don’t be like
him
.”

Everyone snickered, trying to hold in laughs. James looked over at me and winked.

Harper rushed forward and grabbed Daniel’s arm. “Dad, I think that’s enough. Let’s just have dinner, okay?”

We all hurried to the table. As we sat, Dad noticed Geri. “Geraldine? What are you doing here?”

“I asked her to come,” Dusty said calmly.

“Oh.” He stared at Dusty, and raised an eyebrow. I knew he wondered whether Geri’s presence was to keep her in the loop, already being a permanent fixture in our home, or if he sensed a hint of something more.

The roast was served, and right away, James struck up a conversation with Daniel. I ate, silently observing James’ talent for making people like him. Within half an hour, he and Daniel were laughing together like old friends.

Harper leaned across and twitched her eyebrows at me. I rolled my eyes and looked at Dad instead. He watched James and Daniel closely as he ate. Finally, when James had Daniel rolling with laughter, Dad cleared his throat, causing everyone to fall into a tense silence.

“So, Daniel, what are you studying?”

Daniel cleared his throat as he composed himself. “I’m studying engineering at UTS, specializing in computers, telecommunications and such.”

That’s right! I’d forgotten that he ended up working as an IT guy at a big company in the city.

“And what do you plan on doing with that?” Dad asked, leaning forward.

“Ah . . .” Daniel obviously believed he’d explained it in layman’s terms, but he didn’t know Dad. Dad was testing him. “Well, computers are used everywhere now, so I can work on them, do system upgrades and so forth, for companies.”

“Is that a good, stable job with a steady income?”

“
Dad
.” Harper groaned.

“It should be, yes,” Daniel answered.

“How about debts? How much debt do you―?”

Mum intervened. “So, do we want dessert?”

Dusty and I leaped to our feet to help. While we were in the kitchen, James took hold of the conversation again and had everyone laughing, even Dad. Mum shook her head and smiled. “Cadence, that boy of yours has a knack for getting through to your father.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, through to his nerves and irritating him.”

She handed me one of the cheesecakes. “No, he has completely defused your father three times now.”

She handed Dusty the other cheesecake while she dug out the bowls and spoons.

I set the cake down on the table and James grinned up at me. I always believed Dad thought James was below me, that he didn’t approve of him. But as I sat, I thought about what Mum said. When Dad leaned forward to tease James and they both laughed, I saw something I never expected: Dad really liked James.

James’ arm lifted and rested on the back of my chair. Dad saw it and didn’t even flinch. Daniel looked over in envy, and tried to do the same with Harper. Dad shot him a fierce look, and his arm withdrew.
Sorry, Daniel, you aren’t there yet.

I looked across at Geri, who sat soaking up the whole scene with great delight. It tickled her pink watching Daniel torture himself, seeing Harper grow short-tempered with Dad, all while James seemed to be trying to provoke him.

As we ate dessert, James became bolder than ever. Dad watched him as he leaned over to whispered in my ear.

“You’re so sexy, you know that?” He kissed my cheek and sat back.

I glanced across at Dad who stared down at his cheesecake, trying to pretend nothing had happened.

Harper noticed. She slapped the table. “Oh my gosh, Dad! How can James be allowed to whisper to Cadence, but Daniel can’t even touch me?”

Dad’s gaze flashed to Harper with a hint of anger. “James knows his boundaries.”

“No, he gets away with it because he’s gonna marry your favorite child!”

Everyone gasped and looked at me. I froze, my mouth full of food, stunned by what she said.

Geri intervened. “Holy cow, Harper! Cadence is only seventeen!”

“But we all know that―”

“Enough, Harper!” Mum said harshly.

Having Mum snap at her made us all drop our gazes, and an awkward silence fell. After a few minutes, Dusty said, “Ger, have you ever cut off one of your curls to see if it behaves like a slinky?”

Geri scowled while I giggled. “No, Dusty, thank you very much. And don’t call me
Ger
.”

“Okay, Ger.”

She growled and wiped whipped cream across his face.

After dinner, Dad sat Daniel down to interrogate him, with Mum as a mediator. The rest of us retreated to the family room to play a board game. I wanted to talk to Harper, but she remained surly for the rest of the night, only speaking to us if absolutely necessary.

Afterward, when she and Daniel headed out, I rushed to his car and grabbed her arm. “Harper.”

She looked into my eyes and I saw her discouragement. “Cadence, was it this bad for you? Dad was awful.”

She leaned against the car. Daniel came back around and stood beside her. “Hey, babe, it wasn’t that bad. To be honest, I expected much worse after everything you told me.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her head.

I took her hand. “Dad was so much worse to James, you know that. Oh, and you weren’t here the night Dad found out about us . . . you know.
That
was awful.”

A smile flitted across her face. “I wish I coulda been here for that. To see Dad rip into James . . .”

“He almost ripped him apart. He shoved James so hard up against the wall in the family room, he broke it.”

She brushed my hair back from my shoulder. “So it will all be okay? Dad will chill out soon?”

I nodded. “Just be patient. Daniel is way less troublesome than James.”

She giggled. “Thanks, Cay.”

She turned toward the car, and Daniel hurried to open the door for her.

I patted his arm. “It’s good seeing you again.”

He smirked. “You too. But don’t think I haven’t forgotten that twin thing when we first met. I think you owe me something for that little trick. I believed it for months until Harper explained it all to me.”

I chuckled. “I’m sure I can work something out.”

He climbed into the car, and I waved as they drove off.

The third term of school seemed to drag. With what felt like a million assignments due, our impending graduation at the end of term, and exams during the fourth term, an ominous feeling hung over my peers.

I, on the other hand, felt irritated. My assignments were the same as the first time around, so I aced each and every one of them. It annoyed me, despite how great it was. I had struggled and agonized over them the first time—now it felt as if I was cheating.

Geri broke up with Cody a few weeks after term started. They ended things very civilly, but he was devastated. Luckily, they’d done most of their assignment and only had individual notes to throw together, so she could avoid seeing him alone.

“He keeps asking me to do things with him,” she said quietly one day in Community and Family Studies. “He thinks we still stand a chance, but all he’s doing is making things awkward.”

“I’m sorry, Geri. I wish I could help. Unfortunately, all I can say is give him time to move on. Maybe try dangling some other girl in front of him.”

She sighed. “If you were single, I’d offer
you
up as sacrifice. But alas . . .”

We giggled quietly.

After school, we walked to the parking lot together. Dusty sat on the bonnet of my car, waiting, which surprised me, but Geri surprised me even more when she made a muffled gasp. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her swallow hard.

“Oh, man! Your little brother is here.”

I looked across at Dusty, spinning a rugby ball on his hand. “Yeah, it’s warmer than the bus.”

“He’s such a pain.”

“Yeah, well, he seems to like you.”

I glanced at her as a hesitant pause followed. She bit her lip, but released it straight away. “Yeah, in the
she’s so fun to tease and get under her skin
kinda way.”

This is a good sign. Dusty’s quirky charms are working.
I laughed. Dusty heard me and jumped off the car.

“Think quick!” He tossed the ball at me.

My hands flew up and caught it just before it could slam into my face.

“Dusty, I should drive off without you for that!”

He laughed. “You caught it, didn’t you? I knew you would, so it’s all good.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and winked at Geri. “Hey, Ger. Looking fine today.”

She rolled her eyes and turned toward her car. “Don’t call me Ger!”

“Okay, Ger.”

She huffed and threw her hands in the air.

“You’re beautiful when you’re angry!” Dusty called out.