“Thanks, Yuna. Like I’m not embarrassed enough.”
Walking on glass was preferable to divulging the details. That was the problem with anger. After it hoisted your common sense out the window, it made you behave badly.
“I won’t stop teasing until you give up the goods. What did you say to Griffin?”
“I made a complete fool of myself. He, on the other hand, was nothing but decent. He even helped me into my car after he sent Mik packing. As if I hadn’t just read him the riot act. And the way he handled Mik . . . Yuna, I wasn’t even aware Griffin had a temper. When we were young, he never got mad. The biggest rise you’d get out of him was irritation. I thought he was born without the trait that makes someone like me behave stupidly.”
The impish glee faded from Yuna’s features. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. Yes, you can be impulsive. But you didn’t know Lark had found the keepsake. Or that she’d given it to Griffin. If anyone should take the fall, it’s me. I should’ve returned the box right after Griffin gave it to me.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“It seemed best to wait before dropping another bomb on your head. With Penny dumping garbage in front of your office and shouting cuss words whenever she drove by . . .”
“It wasn’t right to hit me up with more bad news?”
“If I’d known Quinn was keeping secrets—and would come clean this morning—I wouldn’t have delayed.”
Yuna’s attention strayed to the center of the table.
The lacquered box caught the sun’s golden light. The tiny rivers of glass sparkled.
Drawing the box near, Rae smoothed her palm across the pleasingly glossy surface. “Lark must’ve found it last summer.” She dimly recalled a sweltering August day—rushing to leave for the office—and Lark trudging out in her pajamas, moody and needing a project to occupy the hours. “Near the end of summer, Lark was incredibly bored. I suggested she spend the day organizing her bedroom for the upcoming school year. Or help Connor with chores around the house. Later, she called me at work—she’d been rummaging around in the attic. I assumed she was sorting through some of my mother’s old things. My dad wasn’t with her. If he’d gone up to keep her company, he would’ve recognized the box.”
“And told her to get your permission before taking it,” Yuna supplied.
“I’m sure she began devising a plan to contact Griffin soon after.”
“You know, this might explain why Katherine has been less than kind toward you. From her perspective, she has good reason.”
“Such as?”
“Rae, she was dating Griffin.”
The news came as a surprise. “When?”
“Last year.”
“How long were they dating?”
“I’m not sure exactly. Not long. But if Lark was bragging to Quinn that she’d found her father, what if she also told Katherine’s daughter, Stella? Or Griffin’s niece?”
Lark was gone, but Rae’s instinct to protect her daughter remained fully intact. “Even if she was bragging to the other girls, why would it matter? Yes, Lark was friends with Stella and Jackie, and she may have told them. But they treated her like a second-class friend. Why would they care if she was bragging?”
“Think about it. If Lark told them while Griffin and Katherine were dating, it might’ve irked Stella. She’s a nice enough girl, but she’s the Queen Bee.”
“All that Thomerson wealth—she’s not used to having competition.”
Yuna nodded. “If Lark announced that Griffin was her father . . . it probably didn’t go down well. Stella wouldn’t have liked another girl boasting about the man dating her mother. It might’ve embarrassed her.”
Dazed, Rae fell back in her chair. “Lark didn’t want to attend the slumber party,” she murmured. She looked up suddenly. “I knew she was on the outs with one of her girlfriends.”
“Lark wouldn’t tell you who she was fighting with?”
The question made Rae shake her head with bemusement. “Wait until Kameko reaches adolescence. There’s lots of stuff your teenage daughter won’t share. You’ll do your best to dredge up the intel on all sorts of issues, but you’ll get nowhere fast.”
Yuna rolled her eyes. “Gosh, I can’t wait.”
“All I knew was that Lark had a falling-out with one of the girls. A disagreement over who-knows-what. Girls that age have the silliest battles.”