Sin of the Saint

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: VOICES IN THE DARK

"You really are just playing the field, aren't you?"

Liv opened her eyes the next morning to her brother James' voice. She wrapped herself comfortably in her down comforter, "The heck are you talking about, James?"

"I'm talking about the fact that you left for the dance with one guy and came home with another," James said, leaning on the edge of her door frame. "Mom liked the first guy a lot better—dad was just too shocked to say anything and wouldn't even dare to ask you about it."

Liv blinked slowly. "Is this what you guys do when I'm gone? Just sit back and speculate about my life? Quietly judge me over a midnight bowl of ice cream?"

He shrugged. "It's not always over ice cream. Sometimes it's over a shared plate of nachos, but—"

Liv chucked a pillow at her brother and hit him square in the face. "That'll teach you to make assumptions about me, you punk."

James laughed as he brushed the pillow to the floor. "You bring this upon yourself—player."

Liv raised another pillow over her head and James retreated behind the wall and barely peeked his head through the door. "Relax, relax...mom just sent me to get you—Sunday breakfast is ready."

If she was being honest, she was very hungry. The violence and compounding confusion from the night before drove her straight to bed after changing clothes after the dance.

She met her family downstairs at the breakfast table, where her mom had set down aromatic maple bacon, waffles, and a bowl of cheesy scrambled eggs. They all dished a plate and sat over breakfast, eating quietly.

"So...who was he?" her mom finally asked. "The guy that dropped you off on our doorstep last night?"

"Yeah honey, did you and your date dance so much that he dropped twenty pounds? Did he get his hair bleached after the dance?" her father blurted out, clearly curious. "Why isn't your hair bleached, too?"

"Dad, what the—?" Liv asked through a mouthful of bacon. She swallowed and shook her head, "No! Seriously?"

"He's just concerned, honey. Tell us what happened?" Nancy asked insistently.

"Felicity broke her hand at the dance and since my date had access to a car, he took her to the hospital. I spent the rest of the night with Felicity's date since the limo wasn't coming to pick us up until the dance was over," Liv explained—leaving out the parts she had to, of course. "That's it. I swear."

"Oh my...that's rather adventurous," Nancy commented, then went back to her food.

Robert did the same. "Definitely not as weird a scenario as I thought..."

"Obviously..." Liv said, then thought:...you weirdo.

"So then, did you kiss him?" James asked.

Robert spat out his juice and Nancy looked sternly at James.

"Of course I didn't," Liv said calmly. "I wouldn't kiss Charity's ex-boyfriend so soon after she died. Now can we please change the subject?"

"So that's who that young man was...Charity's boyfriend? That must have been so awkward," Robert subconsciously mumbled.

Liv took a deep breath in and continued to eat without saying anything. She would rather they just butt out, but it wasn't looking likely that they would.