Dear Diary Read Free Page A

Rory was no more interested in them than they were in her. She was nothing like Jenny Sumpter, Piper Point High’s brightest star. She didn’t possess Jenny’s long silky hair, or her deep brown mysterious eyes. Rory’s hair was too wavy, her eyes too big that they swallowed her face. She was just okay looking, and she was too smart to believe her mother’s assurances that she would someday be a real looker. She knew parental bullshit when she heard it.
    Thinking of Mom, Rory frowned. Something was going on between her parents, the same something that had ebbed and flowed in waves of tension for years. Sometimes Rory thought they should divorce, but deep down she didn’t want them to. She’d do almost anything to keep it together and yet, the way they were with each other… it just was really hard sometimes. The last few months had been the worst. The atmosphere around her parents was thick and hostile. Her father was hardly ever home, and when he was, he was short-tempered, anxious and dissatisfied. Rory just tried to stay out of his way. And her mother had grown even more remote and there were lines of discontentment etched beside her mouth. The one time Rory had brought up her parents’ problems to her she’d been cut off by a sharp response. It was all too weird and unnerving to consider. Best to forget it.
    Her bedroom was suffocating, so Rory walked down the hall to the bathroom she shared with Michelle. The window was open and she could see into the backyard. A shimmering layer of heat made everything seem unnaturally bright and artificial. She wished suddenly that Nick had skipped out, too, and the two of them could be on their way somewhere‌—‌anywhere‌—‌else, together.
    Hearing a car pull into the garage, Rory thought: Mom’s home from some errands . But on the heels of that thought came another: Mom’s visiting her friend Sara in Seattle today . She couldn’t be home already.
    Rory frowned. Yes, it was definitely today that Mom had said they were on their own for dinner. So who was pulling into the garage?
    Some sixth sense warned her to wait. She listened to the soft drip of the shower and heard the hum of a bee hovering around the rhododendrons outside. Below her, she heard the kitchen door opened. Feminine laughter rippled through the quiet house. Sultry laughter, followed by her father’s low pitched voice saying something indistinguishable that had his partner giggling girlishly.
    Rory froze. Who was with her father?
    The heavy scent of an expensive perfume drifted all the way upstairs, rising with the heat. Rory heard murmured voices and then one clear comment by the unknown woman.
    “Your house is so beautiful, Griffith. I wish I could share it with you.”
    Rory didn’t remember moving. She couldn’t have said later how she got downstairs. She was drawn to that voice and the terrible messages slamming across her brain.
    They were still in the kitchen. Rory heard a cork pop and the hissing fizz of champagne. More feminine giggles and deep masculine chuckles became louder as she drew nearer. Her heart was pounding so fiercely she was half deaf.
    She stopped in the archway between the kitchen and the dining room. They didn’t know she was there. Her footsteps had been muffled by the carpet. Her father’s back was to her, but it was definitely her father: Griffith Camden, salesman extraordinaire, quick with a smile and a wink, full of laughter and outrageous stories, model father, loving husband. The woman was on the counter and he was pressed up against her, his pants a pool down by his ankles.
    Adulterer.
    The woman’s arms were draped casually around his neck, the champagne glass balanced in one hand. She was kissing him and moaning, her legs curling around him. She was trying not to spill the bubbly liquid, giggling occasionally. As Rory watched, the glass kept tipping sending a sparkling stream to the floor as the undulating became more hurried, the lovers heedless. Her