“Mom had plans with Aunt Eliza tonight, so she couldn’t come with me when you cancelled dinner.” I had to pause for just a second after saying it, before I could make myself go on. I looked at his face, trying to see if he would flinch or give anything away, but I couldn’t see anything. “So Kat and I thought we’d come in and take the reservation.”

“Uh-huh.” My dad gave me a knowing look. “And did your mother know that you were coming into the city?”

“No,” I said, feeling like this was the least of what I was concerned with right now.

“Stephanie Sinclair,” my dad said, his voice getting louder and lower, always the first sign I was In Trouble. Normally, this would have scared me, but right now it just made me angrier. He thought that he could still play the father in charge after everything? After what he’d done? “Are you saying—”

“Dad!” I snapped, “let me fucking talk!” I could practically feel him drawing back in surprise. I never raised my voice, especially not to him, and I never swore. I was very aware that I was about to wade into uncharted waters and drag him in with me. I closed my eyes for just a second, trying to get my courage up.

Why was this so scary?

I opened my eyes and made myself keep going. “So. Matty and I had to go to the office to get the keys to Mallory’s apartment because I got locked out—”

“Wait,” my dad said, holding up a hand, sounding baffled. “What do Mateo and Mallory have to do with this?”

“And then,” I said, talking over him, knowing that if I stopped for even a second, I’d lose my nerve entirely, “I thought while I was at the law firm I’d go up to your office and say hi. Because you told me you’d be working late.” I made myself look right at him. My lower lip started to quiver as I thought about how excited I’d been to see him, how sure that I knew what I would see, because there was no way my father would have lied to me, not about something that important. “But Carla told me the truth—that you weren’t working late. You’d left hours ago. So you could have dinner with Joy.” I was speaking faster now, my voice rising. “And that’s how I found out that you lied to me, and that you cancelled my birthday dinner—” My voice broke and I stopped and took a deep breath, trying to get myself together.