17 - United Again

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Anger coursed through my veins as I sat opposite of the man who turned my life into a living nightmare. I clenched my fork tightly in my hand and kept my eyes on my plate. I didn't want to look at him, and struggled to keep the bile from rising in my throat. 

Mom was telling him the recipe for her pot roast, and he just kept going on about how delicious everything was. It made me sick to my stomach.

I didn't understand how he could just sit at the dining table where Dad used to sit and act like he wasn't to blame for destroying our lives. It would be so easy to grab him by his collar and demand that he tell me where my father was, but I knew that would be impulsive. 

Howard Pennington was bigger and stronger than I was, and I would never hear the end of it from Seth. Maybe if I was Mara, I could've been gutsy enough to stab him with my fork, but I knew I couldn't pull it off.

"Honey, you haven't touched your food at all," Mom said. "Are you still in pain from last night's accident?"

"I'm fine," I said, putting some salad in my mouth to appease her.

"Accident?" Lucy's father asked, like the scum of the earth that he was.

"My daughter is a little accident prone," Mom said, chuckling lightly while pouring more sparkling cider for him. "She had to go to the hospital to get stitches, so she's not feeling her best today."

"I'm fine, Mom."

Turning to me, she asked, "So do you know his daughter? Lucy, was it?"

"Yeah." Unfortunately.

"Oh, that's nice. Do you girls ever hang out?" Mom asked.

"We run in different circles," I said, glancing over at her father as I said it.

An emotion briefly flashed across his face, and I would've missed it if I had blinked. If was almost like he was amused to be sitting here, observing the aftermath of his destruction. "That's a shame. I feel you two have much in common."

"Lucy and I are nothing alike," I snapped, more viciously than I intended to.

"Aurora!" Mom chided. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing," I said, flicking around some lasagna on my plate.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Pennington. She must still be tired from yesterday."

I watched as his eyes locked onto my bandaged arm, so I moved it under the table while glowering at him. After seeing how disgusted Sheila had been by the stitches, I had wrapped it up so it wouldn't horrify my Mom's boss, but now I wish I hadn't. Then I could show Pennington how I wasn't going to make this easy for him. I could take the blows he'd deliver and stand back up again. 

"Sounds like a nasty wound," he said, the corner of his lips raising slightly in a smirk. It was sleight enough that Mom didn't notice, but I saw.

"You should've seen what the other girl looked like afterwards," I said, not breaking eye contact.

Looking back and forth from me to him, Mom asked, "So have you two met before? At the school, perhaps?"

"I've never had the pleasure," Mr. Pennington answered.

"No, but maybe you've met my dad?"

I heard Mom's sharp intake of breath from the other side of the table.

A muscle in his face twitched. "Now why would you assume that, dear?"

"Oh, I just thought Lucy might've told you what happened with him. I mean, he was a patient at your psychiatry ward, right?" I said levelly. "You must've heard about the psychiatrist he took with him?"

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