The Courage Tree - Diane Chamberlain [61]
“I’m taking today off,” Lucas said.
Her father let out an ugly, snorting laugh that was so out of character for him, it made Janine cringe. “You make it sound as though that’s an unusual occurrence,” he said. “You take off any damn time you feel like it. Why should today be any different?”
“As long as my work gets done, I don’t see the problem,” Lucas said.
“This is the final straw.” Her father’s cheeks were that ruddy color he got on those rare occasions when fury replaced his usual stoic anger. “I’m speaking to the Foundation today and getting you fired.”
“On what grounds, Daddy?” Janine asked. “That he befriended your thirty-five-year-old daughter?”
“That he is irresponsible, at best. At worst…I don’t know what that would be exactly, but I’m sure there’s more to…to this man…than you know, Janine. I’d tell you not to be such a fool, but your mother’s right. You always were and I guess you always will be.”
“Leave my house, Daddy,” she said. “Please just go.”
Her father laughed again. “Your house? You’re staying here out of our good graces, and you know it. This is my house, your mother’s and mine, and we don’t want him—” he motioned toward Lucas “—inside it.”
“I’ve had it.” Lucas let go of her hand and took a step toward her father. “First of all, I quit the damn job, okay?” he said. “Does that make you happy? Second of all, Janine needs your love right now, not your criticism, although that seems to be all you and your wife know how to give her. I’m sick of you belittling her. She’s been a great mother to Sophie. She’s done everything in her power to make Sophie’s life as good as it can be, and—”
“Hey!” Her father again pointed one shaky finger at Lucas. Janine had never seen him so livid. “Don’t you dare talk to me like that. You’re the whole reason Sophie’s in that idiotic study. Telling Janine that herbs can work when nothing else can. You’re preying on her desperation. I want you to stay away from her.”
Janine moved toward her father, grabbing his arm to turn him around and usher him out the kitchen door and through the living room. “I’m a grown woman, Dad,” she said, walking him straight out the front door. She was relieved that he didn’t resist. He was probably so surprised to find her standing up to him, that he didn’t know how to react. “You can’t tell me who I can choose for my friends.”
He turned to face her once he was outside on the stoop. “Get him out of here, Janine,” he ordered. “I mean it. This is my property and I want him off it.”
It was not his property, but she didn’t want to rub his nose in it. “Daddy…I don’t need this right now, okay?” she said. “Lucas is right. I need you to help me now, not harass me. If you can’t do that, then…don’t come over here again.”
She couldn’t bring herself to slam the door in his face, but she closed it gently, biting her lip against the threat of tears, and walked back into the kitchen.
Lucas wrapped his arms around her when she came into the room.
“I’m sorry that was so messy,” he said.
“He still has it in his mind that you’re up to something evil,” she said, drawing away from him. “Please don’t quit your job over this.”
“I think it’s a done deal.” He poured himself a cup of coffee, and she couldn’t help but admire the steadiness in his hand after the scene with her father. Her own hands were shaking.
“Besides.” Lucas took a sip of the coffee and smiled at her. “I already have a new job.”
“You do?” she asked, surprised. “What?”
“I’m going to help you find Sophie.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Zoe used a long fork to transfer the cooked squirrel from the spit onto one of the cheap plastic plates she’d picked up at a Kmart in Ohio. She sat down on a large flat rock near the fire pit, rested the plate on her lap, and began carving the meat from the squirrel’s thigh. A strange breakfast, she thought, but she was beginning to like the freedom of eating whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted it. She was beginning to