Our Wicked Lies by Gledé Kabongo (books for new readers TXT) 📕

“Colby took photos of Dad and Kat all over each other. They were kissing, making out. Heavy stuff. It was obvious they were sleeping together.”

Marston breathed hard and fast. “Do you want me to get you some water?” I asked her.

“No. I’m fine,” she said. “Are you saying that there are photos floating around of our father getting it on with Kat?”

Marston was apparently the adult in the room because our parents still hadn’t said anything. Dad wouldn’t look at me or Mom. Mom was trying to catch her breath so she wouldn’t break down sobbing.

“I deleted them. So did Colby.”

“Okay. That’s good. What does it have to do with Kat’s death, then?”

“I started paying attention to how she acted around us. I didn’t trust her anymore.”

“I still don’t see what this has to do with her death,” Marston said.

“I’m getting to it. This isn’t easy for me, okay?”

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

I glared at Dad, but he just looked down at his feet, unable to look me in the face.

Mom looked frail, like she was about to fall off the sofa and just pass out.

“I can only do this once,” I said. “I don’t ever want to go back to this day ever again, so I need all of you to just listen, okay? Don’t interrupt me. Please.”

Marston nodded. Mom and Dad remained in their zombie-like states.

I cleared my throat. “Maxim confirmed what Colby had seen, so I decided to confront Kat—I thought an honest conversation would convince her to back off.”

I swallowed. “As you know, she died the Tuesday after Memorial Day. I took the trail behind the conservation land, so no one would see me, and went around the back of the house. The door was open, and she gestured for me to come in.”

I closed my eyes as I recounted the events of that awful day. They unfolded in my mind in real time as if I was watching a movie starring me and Kat.

“What’s up, Lily?” Kat said as I walked into the kitchen.

She had a glass of wine in hand. The bottle was on the center island. It was only a few minutes after ten in the morning, but she kept swaying back and forth, like she was already drunk.

“Stop seeing my dad,” I blurted out.

She smiled and said, “I always knew you were a clever girl. And a Daddy’s girl, too.”

I knew she was trying to confuse me by changing the subject. “How could you do that to our family, to my mom? You’re her best friend. Her also-married best friend. What did she ever do to you to deserve to be stabbed in the back?”

She laughed and said, “Oh Lily, you’ll be a woman soon enough, and then you’ll understand. Your mother is too weak for a man like your dad. We didn’t mean to fall in love; we just did.”

“I saw how you reacted to the photos from my parents’ trip to France. You were pissed, like Dad belonged to you. Well, he doesn’t, Kat!”

“Is that so, little girl?” She took a sip of her wine and stumbled against the counter. “Run along and tell your mommy that your daddy and I are together, and there’s nothing she can do about it.”

Kat took another sip from her wine glass and then laughed out loud again. It sounded like a witch’s cackle in one of those kids’ films.

“Wait, but you won’t tell her, will you, Lily? Because you’re a loyal daughter who would do anything to protect your fragile mommy. You wouldn’t break her heart now, would you?”

“If you don’t stop seeing my dad, I will show the photos of the two of you at the Chanler Cliff to Richard.

“Go ahead,” she said in a vicious voice. “You’ll be doing me a big favor. Hurry up. The sooner you show Richard the pics, the sooner your father and I can be together.” She drained the glass of wine, reached for the bottle, and poured another.

I got more desperate by the minute. I had to get through to her, make her understand she was wrong. I didn’t want to cry in front of her, but it hurt, the things she was saying about my parents. I covered my ears with my hand so I couldn’t hear her anymore, but it was no use.

“Get over it, Lily,” she said loudly. “Your parent’s marriage is over. Sometimes marriages don’t work out. Your mother is weak and stupid. Your father is way out of her league, always has been. And now, finally, he’s going to be with someone better suited for him. But don’t worry, you and Marston are welcome to visit us any time you want.”

I dropped my hands and glared at her. I saw a side of her I had never seen before, and it scared me, but I couldn’t just stand there and let her talk about my mother like that.

“You are mean and vindictive,” I cried. “My mom is not weak or stupid. She’s a good, decent human being; something you obviously know nothing about.”

Kat sneered. “Your mother is just some ghetto trash who got lucky and married up.”

“Take it back!” I took desperate steps toward her. She backed up slightly, almost stumbling. “Take it back!” My hands clenched into fists.

She just smiled at me instead, and I swear she had fangs.

“I mean it Kat, take it back.”

She drained the second glass of wine. “Or else what, little girl?”

I got up in her face. “You better take it back right now.”

She laughed and kept on laughing, mocking me. Mocking Mom. She wouldn’t stop. “What are you going to do, little Lily? Your mother is ugly and stupid. She doesn’t deserve your father. He’s too good for her…”

As the insults kept coming, something deep inside me shifted. I didn’t feel like myself. It was as if a raging tiger that had been sleeping inside me for a long time suddenly woke up. I edged even closer to