Susan Mallery - The Sassy One

“You did what?” she demanded. “That is just so typical. You want to ruin everything.”

He’d caught her stealing, and he expected her to go on the attack, but he was still stunned by her blaming him for stopping the order.

“You stole from me!” he yelled.

“You stole from me, too,” she said as she stepped into the hall and glared at him. “You had no right to take away my old credit card. I wasn’t doing anything bad with it. And I wasn’t doing anything bad this time, either.”

“You were stealing. Maybe that’s okay in New York, but it’s damn wrong here.”

“I asked for an allowance, and you said you’d think about it. You haven’t said anything since, and I couldn’t wait any longer. I didn’t have a choice.”

“So this is my fault? What is wrong with you? If you’re grown-up enough to steal, why aren’t you grown-up enough to take responsibility for what you’ve done?”

“I’m only twelve. What do you want from me?”

“Better behavior than this. You’re grounded.”

“There’s news.” She folded her arms over her chest. “So you really like being a bully, don’t you. When you were little, did you beat up on the smaller kids?”

He hadn’t thought it was possible to get more angry, but he’d been wrong. “Do not make this about me, young lady. You are the one who stole from me. I can see I’m going to have to start locking up my money and credit cards, which is a pretty sorry state of affairs around here.”

“Why don’t you just lock me up, too?” she taunted. “It’s what you want to do.”

“It could just be me, but from where I’m standing, it sounds like both of you need to take a deep breath and calm down,” Francesca said.

Sam turned and saw her leaning against the railing by the stairs. Relief flooded him. At least she would know what to do.

“When did you get here?” he asked.

“Somewhere between the opening shot and the last salvo,” she said. “Want to talk about it?”

Kelly glared at her. “He’s a hundred percent wrong. Don’t you dare take his side.”

“Don’t speak to her in that tone of voice,” Sam ordered.

Kelly huffed. Sam glared. Francesca had the feeling she should have slept in and avoided the whole fight. But now she was here, stuck in the middle of what could be a sticky situation. Because as much as Sam had the right to be furious with his daughter, there was one piece of the puzzle missing. Why had Kelly taken the credit card?

In the past few weeks her stuff had arrived from New York, she’d been to the mall to flesh out her wardrobe, and from what Francesca had been able to tell, she was adjusting well and pretty happy. So why would she risk her father’s wrath and steal his credit card?

She turned to Sam. “Tell me what happened.”

He recounted going to get gas the previous afternoon, finding his credit card missing, and then calling to cancel it.

“There had only been one charge that day,” he said. “To an Internet clothing company.” He glared at his daughter. “We all know how Kelly likes to shop with a keyboard.”

Francesca ignored the sarcasm. “Okay, Kelly, let’s hear it. Did you take the credit card?”

Sam started to say of course she had, but Francesca held up a restraining hand. “Please let her answer.”

The preteen sighed heavily. She ducked her head so her curls fell in her face. “It’s not what you think.”

“See?” Sam said.

Francesca ignored him. “Kelly, are you going to answer the question?”

Kelly raised her head and thrust out her chin. “Okay, I took it, but it’s not what he thinks.”

Francesca studied the girl’s green eyes, seeing the shadows of pain and fear. This hadn’t been an act of defiance, she realized. It was something else entirely.

“What I think is that you took it and used it without permission,” Sam said, still sounding furious. “And you’re going to be punished.”

Francesca agreed that no reason was good enough to avoid all consequences, but she still wanted to know one more thing.

“Why?” she asked softly.

“What?” Sam turned to her. “What does it matter why? She wanted more clothes. More whatever she doesn’t think she has enough of.”

“You’re so stupid!” Kelly yelled. “You think you know everything, but you don’t. You don’t know anything!”

Francesca sighed. “Kelly, you know better than to speak like that. Calling an adult stupid is never a good idea. You’re making your father more angry, and you’re using up your good-will with me.”

Kelly’s mouth trembled. “It doesn’t matter. Just punish me. I don’t care.”

She cared so much, it hurt Francesca just to look at her. “Tell us why, please.”

Kelly sucked in a breath and faced her father. “It was a leather jacket for you,” she said, her voice high and shrill. “For your damn birthday, okay? I asked for an allowance and you blew me off. You didn’t even want to talk about it. Your birthday is next week, so what was I supposed to do?”

Sam’s expression tightened. “Don’t you swear at me, young lady. You’re already in enough trouble.”

Francesca nearly fell over. All he’d gotten from Kelly’s confession was that she’d used a bad word? What about the fact that she wanted to get him something for his birthday? The means might suck big time, but the motive was pure.

Kelly’s mouth trembled. Francesca knew exactly what she was thinking. That she’d tried to show she cared, that her father mattered to her, and he’d thrown it back in her face.

Without saying a word, she turned and raced into her bedroom. The door slammed and the lock clicked.

Sam groaned. “Great. I was waiting until the weekend before taking out her lock. I can see I should have done it last night.”

He headed for his bedroom. Francesca hesitated, not sure who to go after first, then she remembered Sam would be leaving for work in a matter of minutes while Kelly would be around all day.

“Sam, wait,” she called as she hurried after him. “You can’t leave yet.”

She found him in the closet, slipping into his jacket.

“I have out-of-town clients,” he said. “This will have to wait. I don’t want Kelly to go to dance class today. I don’t want her going anywhere. She should stay in her room and think about what she’s done wrong. We’ll talk about it tonight.”

“You and she may talk about it tonight, but you and I are going to talk about it right now.”

He sighed. “Francesca, I don’t have time for this.”

“Then you’d better make time.” She faced him. “Sam, you’re wrong about this. I don’t approve of what Kelly did. There’s no excuse for her taking your credit card.”

“Good. We’re in agreement.” He picked up his briefcase and stepped around her.

“No.” She grabbed his arm. “She bought you a birthday present. She found out it was your birthday and wanted to get you something really nice. Doesn’t that matter to you?”

He shook his head. “She could have made me a card or something.”

“She’s twelve, not five. She asked for an allowance first, so she was willing to use legitimate means to get you something.”

“A leather jacket?” he asked, sounding incredulous. “We’re talking a lot of money. I don’t know the going rate for an allowance for someone her age, but it better not be enough for her to buy a leather jacket in a week.”

“I agree. But can’t you see she’s trying to show you she cares? That you matter? That she wants you to be a family together?”

“I see that, but you’re missing the fact that she lied and stole.” He drew his eyebrows together. “I can forgive a lot of things, Francesca, but not deception.”