Page 17 of Jury Woman, Part 4 of 6

"I mean she didn't go." He filled a travel mug, and coffee splashed across the granite. He didn't wipe it up. "Something happened, I don't know what. One minute she's dressed and waiting, next thing I know she's locked in the upstairs bathroom and crying. Lots of crying."

"What happened?"

"I just told you. I don't know."

"You didn't think to ask?"

He finally looked into the camera. His eyes were puffy, the skin beneath them bruised with fatigue. "I'm doing the best I can, Isabel. How many times do I have to say it? The best I can."

"I know, but—"

"Heidi stepped in. Knocked on the door, told Lily no boy was worth ruining her makeup over, there'd be other dances." He jammed the lid onto the mug. "Lily said some things. Heidi said some things back. Then Heidi was crying too, in our room, and Josh cranked his music so loud the pictures in the hallway rattled." He scrubbed a hand down his face. "It's a mess. The whole thing is a mess."

I could see it as clearly as if I'd been standing on the landing. Two doors shut on two weeping women. One boy barricaded behind a wall of heavy metal music. And Warren in the hallway, with no idea which door to knock on first… so he'd probably just left.

"Where are you headed now?"

"I'm going to work early. We've got a truckload of inventory coming in at eight, and somebody has to be there."

"Wouldn't it be better to talk to Lily first? You don't have to fix anything. Just tell her you love her."

"Absolutely not." He was shaking his head. "She made it very clear last night she doesn't want to hear from me. And I should've been out the door ten minutes ago."

"Then call Elaine. Ask her to come over."

He gave a short, humorless laugh and snagged his jacket off the back of a chair. "Sure. Let's put your sister and Heidi in the same kitchen this morning. That'll settle everybody right down." He leaned toward the screen. "You have a pleasant day, Isabel. Lounge around the hotel. Order yourself some breakfast in bed. While your family falls apart."

His thumb came down on the trackpad, and the screen went dark.

Part of me wanted to march straight out of this hotel, find the nearest car, and drive home to sit outside Lily's room myself. Another part of me whispered that Lily was sixteen now, and had a father down the hall, and that I could not keep carrying every person in that house on my back from thirty miles away.

I didn't know which part to believe.

Deputy Wells walked me back without a word, which I appreciated. In my room, I kicked off my shoes, climbed onto the bed, and propped the pillows behind me. The rose-colored gloves lay folded on the nightstand. My heart ached for Lily.

I opened Middlemarch to chapter fourteen and read the same paragraph four times.

Lounging, it turned out, was hard work when my mind was somewhere else.

October 18, Sunday

JOSH WAS the only one on the screen, sitting on the edge of his unmade bed with the laptop balanced on his knees. His hair stuck up on one side, flattened on the other, and he wore the same gray hoodie I'd seen on previous calls. Unwashed, probably. A poster of some Premier League striker hung crooked on the wall behind him, one corner peeled loose.

"Hi, buddy. Where's Lily?"

"In her room. She won't come out."

"Still?" I leaned closer, as if that would bring me nearer to the house. "Do you know what happened Friday night? Your dad didn't seem to."

Josh snorted. "Dad doesn't know anything." He glanced at his door, then lowered his voice. "Scott stood her up. He was supposed to pick her up at six-thirty. She was all dressed and everything, sitting on the stairs by the front window. She waited, like, an hour and a half. He never showed."

"Oh, no."

"Then Kaylee texted pictures from the dance." His mouth twisted. "Scott was there. With Ariana."

I closed my eyes for a moment. I could see my daughter on those stairs, in the dress Elaine had helped her choose, checking her phone every thirty seconds while the light faded outside. Watching headlights sweep past the house and keep going. Then opening the text and finding out where she ranked.

Sixteen, and humiliated in front of her friends. She must've been shattered.