Oh, no.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

I was in so much trouble.

“Daddy—”

“He wanted me to pass on that you’d left one of your textbooks and your umbrella behind after your class this week.” He adjusted his glasses and pulled the note closer. “And if I would be so kind as to pass on that he hopes you’re doing well with your current assignment, and he’s looking forwards to seeing the final outcome.”

“I can explain—”

“I don’t wish for you to explain, Gabriella.” He tossed the note down on the table and turned back to his paper. “What I would like is for you to leave me alone so that I can read my paper.”

My heart had sunk so far it wasn’t even in my body yet. It’d gone right through my feet, the floor, the surface of the Earth.

This wasn’t how he was supposed to find out.

“I understand,” I said in a small voice. I felt as though I was six years old again and I’d been caught smuggling biscuits out of the biscuit tin under my t-shirt. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

He didn’t respond, so I left him to his newspaper. I wrapped my arms around myself and went upstairs, almost falling backwards when I saw Aunt Cat standing there, hugging her books about plumbing.

“He’s so mad at you he didn’t even yell about the goats,” she said morosely. “I almost contemplated letting them out to annoy him, but I thought I might give him an aneurysm.”

I forced a weak smile.

“And let’s face it. Your brother wouldn’t know how to run this estate unless we wrote the instructions on the back of a vodka bottle.”

“I suppose that’s true,” I replied. “Do you think he’ll be angry for long?”

“Probably. Don’t worry, it’ll only be twenty-four hours before I do something to piss him off and then you’ll be off the hook.”

“I’m not rounding those goats up again.”

“You won’t have to, dear. I’m picking up the ducks tomorrow, and he still has no idea.” She winked at me, leaving me standing alone at the top of the staircase.

I sighed.

I hoped she was right. Surely he couldn’t be mad at me forever… could he?

CHAPTER FIVE

Forever was a stretch, but twenty-four hours was not.

My father had steadfastly ignored me for a little over a day. He’d made sure not to enter a room I was in and in the one instance I did see him, he did an abrupt turn and went outside.

I didn’t know he could hold a grudge like that.

I wished it had a purpose—I was still trying and failing to make progress on the assignment, but it was more to do with the fact he wasn’t talking to me than anything else.

I hated it when he didn’t talk to me.

There was nothing worse than my dad being mad at me. Even though I hadn’t meant to hurt him by keeping this a secret, I had, and it was eating at me to the point there was only one thing I could do right now to keep my mind occupied.