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Roy.
There’s only one Roy on my contacts list. I changed his title from Dad to Roy in a fit of rage years ago.
I answer the call before I can second-guess it. “Dad?”
“Ivy?”
Who else does he think it would be? “Yeah, it’s me.”
“Hi, honey. How are you?”
Hi, honey? How am I? How dare he? “I’m…fine.” My voice sounds cold, and it is. “I was sorry I missed you last weekend. Did you get my note?”
“Yes. Yes, I did. That’s…part of the reason I’m calling.”
“Oh. What’s the other reason?” I want to make him squirm. Because I know what his other reason is, and it’s not to chitchat about the weather.
“There’s something I need to discuss with you.”
“Josh’s graduation?” Just to twist the knife a little.
“Uh, no. I don’t think Josh would want me there.”
“True. He doesn’t. Which is too bad, considering it wouldn’t have been hard to reach out to him once or twice during his lifetime. What did you want to discuss?”
“You were…in my house. In my office.” He sounds very unhappy about this discovery and his unhappiness has the effect of a very red flag waving in front of an extremely ornery bull.
My reply is sassy and unremorseful. “I knocked. The door was unlocked and no one was home. I called out to you. I wanted to let you know I showed up, even if you didn’t. I wrote the note to you, then I left.”
“You don’t have the right to let yourself into our home, Ivy.”
Okay, I’ll admit it: this makes my blood boil. Our home. But not your home. No, never that. “I told you I was coming. I thought maybe you’d left your door unlocked on purpose.” Not true, but it might sound reasonable in a court of law. I am, after all, his daughter. Even if he’s forgotten that detail.
“Ivy, there’s…” He’s not sure how to explain it to me. It’s a tricky one, I’ll give him that much. “Something has gone missing.”
“What’s gone missing?” I realize I’m already considering my words, in case the police come after us. Maybe this phone call is being recorded. I wouldn’t put it past my neglectful excuse for a father. And I’ve already lumped myself into this crime with Josh because I’m hardly going to let him take the fall alone. It was me who provided him with his own red flag, even if I never meant to. “Something in your house?”
“No. Not exactly. What…what did you see when you were here?”
“What did I see?” Besides a Bahamas bank account statement? “Well, I saw a lot of sterile white walls and ugly decorating choices. I saw a pen and a piece of paper. I saw a table to set the note on. And then I saw a pristinely manicured front lawn as I was leaving.” Asshole. “What’s gone missing?” I ask again. Ten million dollars, by any chance?
Does my father remember the hacking incident when Josh was twelve? Probably. “Something very valuable.”
“Well, I didn’t take anything, if that’s what you’re implying. But let me know if you find it.”
I’m about to hang up when he says, “I’m going to have to contact the police, Ivy. Unless you’d prefer to return what you stole without involving the authorities.”
“Stole? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” My heart seizes with the kind of terror you can only experience when you and your little brother are about to get arrested and thrown into Rikers Island for the rest of your natural born lives. But I keep my cool, even though my fury is burning me. “As I said, I didn’t remove anything from your house, Dad.” I say the word ironically. “I didn’t even lift your pen.”
“Ivy. I mean it.” So now he chooses to be a disciplinarian.
“And so do I.” I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced this kind of cortisol spike before, but it’s intense in the worst kind of way. “I didn’t take anything.”
“Then I guess you’ll be hearing from my lawyer and the detective assigned to this case.”
“I’ll look forward to it. And you’re welcome, for raising your son, into the best version of himself, without any help from you whatsoever. Have a nice day, Dad.” You deserve to have your money stolen, you unfeeling prick.
I end the call, walking into my bedroom and putting my phone down on my bed. My hands are shaking. My eyes fill with tears but I impatiently wipe them away.
