“Long enough,” she retorts, crossing her hands over her chest. “What’s going on between the two of you?”
“Your new best friend didn’t fill you in?”
She rolls her eyes. “Oh, real mature. You know I’m supposed to be the teenager here, right?”
“I’m not doing this right now. Go to your room, Polly.”
“You can’t just send me to my room when you don’t like the way the conversation is going. You’re not my father.”
I advance on her. “I’m the closest f*****g thing you have to it. Alyssa is down there for her own safety and she will stay down there until the threat has passed. Now, go to your room.”
She sizes me up. Then her jaw tightens in a gesture that looks all too familiar—because I see it every time I look in the mirror. “Enjoy your food,” she snaps. Then she drops the plate right to the
