Free THE CLEARING by Shalini Boland Page B

.’
    ‘. . . I’m not even going to discuss it with you, Riley. My decision’s final.’
    Ma wasn’t getting involved. She didn’t catch my eye and had started washing the dishes even though she’d said she was going to leave them until tomorrow.
    ‘Anyway,’ he said, ‘I need you here to keep an eye on things while I’m away. I’ve got to have someone I can trust . . .’
    ‘Now you’re just being patronising,’ I said. ‘I’m not a kid.’
    Pa glared at me and then sighed.
    ‘Is it because I’m a girl?’ I asked.
    ‘What? No.’
    ‘That means yes,’ I said.
    ‘Riley . . . You want to know what it means? It means you’re the most precious thing in the world to me and I’m not prepared to let Grey get his hands on you again.’ His voice wavered as he spoke.
    That shut me up for a few seconds. Pa never usually said things like that. He was a straightforward man. Not given to emotional outbursts. And since Skye had died, he’d been even more closed off than ever.
    Last month, after Luc and I returned from our road trip, Pa had been beyond furious. He didn’t speak to me for days. He literally blanked me. But then, one morning he told me to get in his AV and he drove us down to Cutter’s Quay.
    ‘Ma wants arts supplies,’ he’d said, passing me a handful of silver bits. ‘You can do the talking.’
    We hadn’t discussed my trip outside or why I’d done it. It was like he’d decided that he’d forgiven me and this was his way of letting me back into his life.
    But that didn’t change the fact that now he was back to treating me like a child. For all the trust he’d placed in me with his business, it didn’t amount to anything if he kept wrapping me up in cotton wool. When it came down to it, I was still only Pa's-little-Riley. I couldn't believe he was side-lining me like this, especially when we had such a close working relationship. I felt betrayed.
    ‘Pa . . .’
    ‘No,’ he said, cutting me off. ‘I need to go next door. I’ve arranged to meet Eddie. We’ve got a ton of planning to do.’
    ‘Don’t run away from the conversation,’ I said.
    ‘Riley, that’s enough,’ Ma said.
    I ignored her. ‘Pa, if I can trade at Cutter’s, then I can . . .’
    ‘We’ll talk tomorrow, Riley,’ Pa said, grabbing his jacket off the back of the kitchen chair. ‘Get some sleep. See you later, Ellie.’
    ‘Don’t be too late,’ she said. ‘You look exhausted.’
    ‘Night,’ he said and left the house.
    ‘Great,’ I said, plonking myself down at the kitchen table. The kettle was boiling and Ma still had her hands in the sink so I dragged myself out of my chair to make us a cup of tea.
    ‘D’you want mint?’ I asked Ma.
    ‘No thanks, darling. No tea for me. You okay?’
    ‘Not really.’
    ‘Must have been a shock,’ she said, ‘seeing that awful couple today.’
    ‘They’re not really that awful,’ I replied. ‘Their kids have gone missing. They did what they thought they had to do.’
    ‘Try not to give your father a hard time over this,’ she said, turning to face me and wiping her soapy hands on a tea towel.
    I didn’t answer. There was no point moaning to Ma about it. She wouldn’t stick up for me. She only had a rough idea of what Pa did and never got involved in the business. But I’d really thought things had changed between him and me. I had thought he finally trusted me with the important stuff.
    I wondered what Luc thought about all this. I wanted to talk to him about everything, but it was too late now Eddie and Rita were home. And anyway, Pa was over there too. They would all be making plans. Without me.
    Right now I was more than a little envious of Luc. He was always included in major decisions. I needed to stop whining about it and do something. I wasn’t a total idiot; I had skills they could use. I’d just have to come up with my own ideas and maybe then they would start taking me seriously. 
    ‘Riley . . . Riley.’
    ‘Hmm?’ I said,