“No.” He looked down at me, questions swimming around in the depths of his eyes. “Do you know why Neil might think that?”
“I might.” I fought the urge to hide in his shirt. When I’d exploded all over his dad earlier, I never imagined the possible repercussions of having to tell Jeremiah about what I said.
He gently slid a finger under my chin and lifted my face to his. “What happened, Steph? Why doesn’t Neil want me to talk to him, and why are you acting like you want to stick your head in the sand?”
Breathing in deeply through my nose, I met his eyes and hoped he could see how sorry I was in mine. “I yelled at your dad this morning. The police were here, and I was talking to Neil… He overheard me. We disagreed about what might’ve happened to you. I tried to keep my mouth shut, but then I just snapped.”
I was rambling, but I didn’t care. I needed him to hear me out and hopefully understand why I snapped. “I was so sure Jannie had taken you, but it didn’t feel like anyone believed me. I was scared and frustrated and then… he said some stuff, and I lost it. All over him. I just exploded.”
He pressed a kiss down on my forehead and nodded. “He has a tendency to bring that side out of all of us. What did he say to you, baby?”
“It’s not about what he said to me. It was what he said about you.” I hadn’t been planning on telling him that part. Stupid big mouth.
Jeremiah’s eyes clouded over. He knew how cruel his father could be, probably better than anyone. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I also knew now that I had mentioned it, I would have to tell him.
“What did he say about me, exactly?”
Damn it. Why couldn’t I have left this part to Neil to tell him? A tiny voice in my head whispered the answer. Because you’re the one who yelled at Jance. You have to take responsibility for what you said.
Adulting sucked so badly sometimes. “He said there was no way Jannie could’ve kidnapped you. That a woman wouldn’t have been able to take a fully grown man. He thought you were probably just driving drunk and being a reckless, Class-A idiot. Things kind of escalated from there.”
“You don’t say,” he said, then gently lifted me off his lap and stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.”
The door slammed behind him. I sat there stunned, not really able to make sense of the last few minutes of my life for what felt like the tenth time in one day. I only repeated what his father said. I hadn’t even gotten around to confessing about what I’d yelled at him in response.
And yet… Jeremiah was gone.
Did I overstep? I felt like I might have.
Falling back against the couch, I grabbed the throw pillow next to me and released a groan into it. Something was out of whack with the universe today, and it kept coming after me. Frustrated and worried once again, I reached for my phone and called Tiana. I only hoped she was almost done at work. I really needed my friend right now.