if he was going to buy her a car, he had said, “Yes, and if you are old enough to drive, then you are old enough to respect my judgment.” Brittany remembered thinking that it was a strange thing to say, but now his words made sense.
Brittany balled her hands into fists and banged them on the steering wheel. She couldn’t believe she had been so clueless! Her father was always spouting out what he called his “words of wisdom.” The day she got her license, she had thought he was just doing it again. She remembered smiling at him and saying her usual, “I know, Daddy.” She hadn’t even realized anything was wrong when he said, “Part of growing up is learning what is important in life. Things that are earned build character.”
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Brittany rested her forehead on the steering wheel. Her shoulders slumped forward as though a weight had been dropped on her neck. Her father had known she was going to freak out when she saw this hunk of junk on wheels, so he was trying to justify it in advance! He couldn’t use money as an excuse. Brittany knew he had the money. He always, always bought her what she wanted, but things had changed since he married Lynn. In the past year, her father had slowly turned away from her. It was like he didn’t even love her anymore.
Brittany laid her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. She let memories of happier times wash over her. She could see her father, driving her and Annie to the movies, making them laugh with his silly jokes. When the movie was over, he would be waiting in the parking lot to take them for burgers and milkshakes. She thought about their shopping trips together, and how he used to make a big deal about back-to-school shopping. Last year on her birthday, he had bought her the three-hundred-dollar boots she wanted, and every summer they had taken vacations wherever she wanted to go, to places like Disney World and New York City.
Brittany started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. There was one reason why her father had stopped giving her what she asked for—one reason only. It was her fault. She did it! She made him do it. Anger spread over Brittany like a raging fire. It had been almost a year since her father had married Lynn, and in that year, everything had changed. Now, all their father-daughter talks centered on her need to “grow up,” something Lynn had said to her a million times. And Brittany was certain it was Lynn’s idea to buy her a used car. That woman had ruined her life.
Brittany remembered the night her father and Lynn announced they were getting married. She pinched her nose together with her fingers and mimicked Lynn’s voice. “‘I don’t ever want to come between you and your father.’”
Brittany took the last turn before her driveway. She could see her house—her house! Not Lynn’s! “You liar!” Brittany screamed. “You lied about everything!”
From the minute they were married, Lynn had set out to turn her father against her. It was Lynn who had talked her father into taking away her credit card and replacing it with a weekly allowance of just twenty dollars. It was her stepmother’s idea to supervise her when she went clothes shopping—meaning she refused to buy the designer clothes Brittany wanted, even though Lynn wore the same brands. For that matter, she refused to buy anything that Brittany wanted. Instead she tried to get her to wear knockoff brands and department-store crap. When Brittany pointed out that Lynn bought herself expensive clothes, she had dared to say, “When you can pay for them yourself, you can buy whatever you want. Until then, I will decide what you can buy.”
“We’ll see about that,” Brittany muttered. She parked her car and got out, leaving the keys in the ignition on purpose. Nothing would make her happier than to come out in the morning and find it gone.
CHAPTER 3
The Saturday her father came home with her car was a day Brittany would never forget. It had started out like any other Saturday. Around noon, she had wandered sleepy-eyed into the empty kitchen and found a note on the table that said, “Be back soon.” Since that wasn’t unusual, she didn’t think anything of it. It did cross her mind that her father could have gone to look at cars, and she thought it would be cool if he surprised her. But she knew he wanted them to pick out her car together—just the two of them. Even if he was going to look at VW’s, she couldn’t believe he would take her stepmother. But by then, things had changed. Lynn was calling the shots and ruining Brittany’s life.
What happened next felt like a nightmare—the kind where no matter how hard you try, you can’t wake up. She had replayed it over and over in her mind. It began with her sitting in the kitchen, eating a blueberry muffin and drinking a glass of milk. Next, she heard cars coming up the driveway and honking their horns. She had jumped up and run outside before the cars stopped. The first was a new black VW Bug. The sun bounced off it in waves of spiked white light that almost blinded Brittany. When her father stepped out of the Bug, she had thrown her arms around his neck and danced up and down. She said, “Oh, Daddy, it’s perfect! I love it!”
Before her father could say a word, Brittany had jumped into the driver’s seat. She inspected the car—her car, or so she thought. She had inhaled that magical new car smell and thought it was the greatest smell in the world. The Bug had everything she wanted: a sunroof, white leather seats, and satellite radio. There was even a small flower vase, and Brittany couldn’t wait to buy a tiny rose to put in it.
Brittany recalled looking up at her father and seeing Lynn standing next to him. She had expected to see big smiles on their faces. Instead, her father had his arms folded over his chest, a frown on his face. Her stepmother gave a tight-lipped smirk, as if she had just gotten the last word in an argument. Brittany had looked back down at the car and swept her hand over the steering wheel for what turned out to be the last time. She hopped out and ran over to hug her father again. As she sailed past her stepmother, Brittany could have sworn she heard Lynn snort. Still, she didn’t understand what was going on. It wasn’t until she tried to wrap her arms back around her father’s neck that it happened.
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