“That son of a bitch!” Tom Mitchell swore loudly into his daughter’s ear. She had to hold her iPhone at arm’s length in order to protect her eardrums. “When did this happen?”
“Um, in March.” Julia sniffled. “He confirmed it via email.”
“Son of a bitch. What was his reason?”
“He didn’t give me one.” She didn’t have the energy to describe the events leading up to her separation from Gabriel, and anything having to do with the academic fraud allegations would just make Tom angrier.
“I’ll shoot him.”
“Dad, please.” The conversation was difficult enough without having to worry about shotguns being loaded and Gabriel’s lily-white tail being hunted through the woods of Selinsgrove.
Tom breathed heavily into the phone. “Where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
“I hate to say this, Jules, because I know you — cared for him, but Gabriel is a cokehead. Once an addict, always an addict. Maybe he’s using again. Maybe he ran into trouble with his dealer. Drugs are a messy business, and I’m glad he’s gone. The farther away from you he is the better.”
Julia didn’t cry at her father’s words, but her heart clenched. “Please don’t say things like that, Dad. For all we know, he’s in Italy working on his book.”
“In a crack house.”
“Dad, please.”
Gabriel’s Rapture
259
“I’m sorry. I really am. I want my little girl to find someone good and be happy.”
“I want that for you too,” she said.
“Well, we’re quite a pair.” He cleared his throat and decided to change the subject. “Tell me about graduation. I made some money from the sale of the house, and I’d like to come to graduation. We should also talk about what you want to do this summer. Your room in the new house is waiting for you. You can paint it any color you want. Hell, paint it pink.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “I haven’t wanted a pink room in a long time, but thanks, Dad.”
Although Selinsgrove was the last place Julia wanted to go at that moment, at least she had a parent and a home, a home that didn’t have bad associations with either Simon or Sharon. Or him.
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