Free A Little Crushed by Viviane Brentanos Page B

behind her back. Across the common, the river meandered in the fragile late September sun. She mourned summer’s passing. She missed her river swims. So what to do with the rest of her day? No way was she going back to school, and going home was out of the question. Her mother meant well, but she wasn’t up for a round of inquisition-style questioning. Which left… She jumped up and brushed the chocolate crumbs from her lap. Her father’s office was at the end of the high street, and it was Wednesday. He always ordered in a doorstop sized burger and fries on a Wednesday.
    * * * *
    “Afternoon, Beth.” Blowing a kiss at her father’s long-suffering secretary, she breezed into the inner-office just in time to catch her father bite into a high rise burger. When he saw her, he nearly choked.
    “My, my, dear Pater.” Kicking out one of his leather client-interrogation chairs, she then sprawled in it. “No wonder you are such a fine lawyer. Such deceit.” Trying not to laugh at the sheepish expression, she leaned forward, elbows resting on the huge walnut desk, and chin resting on bridged fingers. “Tell you what. You don’t tell Mum I bunked off school, and I won’t tell her about your cholesterol fest.”
    Her father gave that crooked grin she adored. “I have raised a monster, I think.” He dabbed at his lips with a ketchup-stained napkin. “Okay, deal.” His eyes narrowed. “You knew, didn’t you? How?”
    “Dad,” reaching over, she nabbed a fry, “you may be an ace lawyer, but you’d make a crap criminal.” She waved the chip at his snowy-white shirt. “Ketchup stains. Mum never notices, but I do.”
    “Mmm…quite.” He sat back, fingers bridged together. “So, despite our mutual let’s-not-evoke-the-wrath-of-mother pact, I fear I must slip into outraged father mode and demand to know exactly why you are bunking off school. I know Jack and Victoria occasionally stray but you? Never.”
    “You knew about Jack and Vicky?”
    “I have my spies, and don’t prevaricate. What’s going on?”
    The benevolent dad gloves came off, and he morphed into prosecution mode.
    “Nothing.” Drawing her legs up onto the chair, she wrapped her arms around her knees. “Everything. I stormed out of his lesson.”
    “Oh dear.” Sighing, he removed his Larry King specs. “By ‘his,’ I am presuming you mean Mr. Jackson. Talk to me, Becky. This is about more than this Mr. Jackson, isn’t it?”
    He slipped back into concerned parent role. His gentle tone only made her sorrier for herself.
    “Nothing feels right anymore, Dad,” she admitted. “I can’t seem to control my feelings. I don’t even understand them. I feel so angry with everyone—and now especially with Emma—and I know I have no right to be.”
    “Emma? What does she have to do with any of this?”
    “It all started really with that bloody—sorry—Mr. Jackson. She’s always been on my side, but now we argue all the time and especially about him.”
    “Rebecca, listen, love,” he said. “Emma is just growing up. She’s developing her own personality, and well, you can be pretty domineering at times.”
    “I suppose, but I always thought we saw eye to eye on everything. I used to be the most important person in her life and now—”
    “I suspect Emma doesn’t always agree with you. She backs you up because she’s loyal. Just because she disagrees with you every now and again doesn’t mean she isn’t your friend. She will always be your friend. When you went missing…”
    Rebecca wanted to cry. She hated seeing the pain on his face.
    “I’ve never seen anyone so distraught. She blamed herself for not going with you.”
    “Lucky for her she didn’t.” Rebecca dug her nails into her forearms, not wanting to go down that road.
    “My point is Emma loves you.”
    “It all sounds so petty, doesn’t it?” Rebecca forced a smile to her lips. “She’s got a boyfriend, you know.”
    “And you’re feeling left out. It’s a