I looked at Lou. She gave me an overenthusiastic thumbs up. I put out my hand to Juliet. “Deal.”

Juliet shook it very seriously.

I grinned—it was hard not to grin at Juliet. I really couldn’t see how Arcanist Woodbridge had raised her and Van. Juliet was so nice and Van was so…Van.

As if she was reading my mind, Juliet cleared her throat. “So you saw dear old Dad today, huh?”

Lou made a grumpy noise.

“He’s, um…” How to describe Arcanist Woodbridge? “Awful. Just awful. How did you and your sister come out of that?”

Juliet lifted a shoulder and dropped it.

“You’ll have to see him,” Lou said, scrunching her nose. “If you and your mentor agree to this.”

“I know.” She picked up the rag off the counter and chucked it into the bleach bucket. “It’s okay. I can’t avoid him forever.” The silence that followed said that she very much wanted to. Then someone hollered at Juliet for a refill and she went to the table to take their order.

“How long since she’s seen him?”

Lou frowned at her beer and didn’t answer.

“I know it’s none of my business, but—they don’t talk about either of their parents. The only family photos in the house are of them and you and Trick. Do they not want to share those kinds of things—like, keep them private? Or is it something else?” When Lou didn’t respond, I turned to her. “You don’t have to tell me either way, but you know I’m the last person who’s going to judge them for their past.”

Lou traced the condensation on her glass. “He hasn’t spoken to Vanessa since she dropped out of school, though they barely talked before that. He did his best to drive a wedge between her and Juliet, but it didn’t work. They would do anything for each other.”

She drew a little curlicue on the glass. “I don’t think Van ever had a good relationship with her dad. He’s hated her since infancy. Juliet, though, she was Woodbridge’s shining star…until she got pregnant.” Lou sighed. “The last time Juliet saw her dad was when she showed him the ultrasound. She’d been living at home to save money while going to school.”

Lou grimaced and shoved her glass away. “He threw her out, and she moved in with us. Told Juliet he wanted nothing to do with them. He’s never met Savannah.”

I sipped my beer, rubbing a hand over my heart. I’d held Savannah more than her own grandfather. I would never understand the people who threw their family away. That was different than sheltering yourself from toxic people.

I wasn’t going to try to reconcile with my dear old dad anytime soon. He could go fuck himself. But Savannah was a baby. What could she have possibly done to deserve that treatment from him? Not that I thought Juliet or Vanessa had done anything to deserve their treatment, either.

What would have happened if Trick, Van, and Lou hadn’t taken her in? Juliet had been in school, and Seattle was expensive. No one ever mentioned Savannah’s dad, and as far as I knew, he had no involvement. How could Woodbridge toss out Juliet? How could he toss out his granddaughter? “What an asshole.”