“It’s true. You’re the best part of that show. Right, hon?” she asks, looking over at my father.
“Yes,” he replies, making fleeting eye contact with me. “You’re a terrific actress.”
An awkward few seconds tick by before we hear a garage door rumbling.
“Yay! Ash is home!” Sharon says. She bolts up from the sofa and runs out of the room.
I stare at my father, feeling a swell of anger as I wait for him to speak.
“I’ve been trying to reach you. How have you been?” he asks in a low, shaky voice.
“Peachy fucking keen,” I say, my heart pounding in my ears.
A second later, Sharon bursts back into the room. Ashley trails behind her, looking confused.
“Hey, y’all,” Ashley says tentatively while scanning our faces.
“Hi, Ashley. I’m Lainey.”
Ashley smiles, blinks, and says, “I’m sorry. I have baby brain since the triplets were born. Have we met?”
“We have not,” I say. “But this meeting is long overdue—”
“Lainey—” Tyson cuts in with a low voice. “Maybe you want to speak to Ashley in private?”
“No, thank you, Tyson,” I curtly reply. “I think everyone should stay for this.”
Ashley and Sharon exchange an intrigued look before sitting down on the short wing of the sectional.
“So, Dad,” I say, feeling my nervousness turn to anger. “Would you like to tell your wife and daughter why I’m here? Or should I?”
Ashley looks at me, then him, then back at me. “Dad?” she asks, her voice rising.
“Yes. Dad,” I repeat.
She looks back at her father, then says, “Why did she call you that?”
He clears his throat, takes off his glasses, and wipes his eyes.
After several seconds of silence, I look at Ashley and say, “Perhaps I can help him explain. Your father had an affair with my mother. Resulting in me.”
“Dad? Is that true?” Ashley asks, her voice shaking as her face turns white.
I glance at Sharon, feeling a stab of guilt. I know that none of this is her fault—or Ashley’s, for that matter. I also know that I’m being needlessly cruel. I can’t stop myself, though, years of grief and anger pouring out of me.
“Well, I wouldn’t count on him for the truth,” I say. “My mother sure couldn’t. He told her that she was the love of his life. And yet here we are—” I gesture grandly around the room.
“That’s enough, Lainey,” Tyson says under his breath.
I feel an ounce of remorse as Sharon runs out of the room, but the pound of hatred for my father outweighs it. Especially when he has the gall to get up and follow her without a word to either of his daughters.
Ashley’s eyes are steely as she stares at me. “Why did you come here? What do you want from us?”
“I don’t want anything—” I say. “My friends convinced me to come meet my sister.”
“You’re not my sister,” she says, her voice ice cold.
“I’m afraid I am,” I say with a laugh.
“Ashley. We’re sorry…. We didn’t know your parents would be here,” Tyson chimes in.
“Yet she still chose to make this announcement in front of my mother?” Ashley spits back at him.
“Welp,” I say, clasping my hands together for effect. “I figured I might as well get everything out in the open.”
“You came here to hurt us,” Ashley says, staring at me with pure disdain.
“That’s not true,” Hannah pipes up, surprising me. “It wasn’t her intent to hurt you. She’s been very hurt by your father’s actions, too.”
“What about her mother?” Ashley spits back at Hannah. “She’s the homewrecker here.”
“Ha. That’s rich,” I say, glancing around the room. “Your home looks far from wrecked.”
“You’re a spiteful person—which I assume you got from your mother. Tell her I said congrats. Mission accomplished.”
“My mother passed away four years ago.”
“Am I supposed to say I’m sorry?”
