The moon passes behind a cloud and my eyes start to play tricks on me. Gnarled branches twist into phantomlike shapes. I take a sharp right, and just when I think I’m going to escape him, my foot smashes against a rock and I go flying. I fling out my hands to break my fall. Blood pounds in my ears. I can feel my skin stinging from where I’ve cut myself and I know I’m bleeding. I bite my lip to keep from sobbing.
My father pulls the car up beside me. “Sutton!” he says from the open window. “Are you all right?”
My palms and knees are on fire as I push from the ground and try to steady myself. A bird squawks in the air above us. The only other sound I hear is the wind whistling over the dirt and between the cacti. I suddenly feel very exposed—and trapped.
“Why are you running from me?” my dad cries. His knuckles are white on the steering wheel. “And where is Thayer?”
I blink at him. You know where Thayer is, I want to say. But the look on his face is surprisingly innocent and worried.
I step back an inch or two, confused.
“Did Thayer leave you out here alone?” My father sounds shocked.
The more I look at him, the more confused I feel. Despite the layer of dust on his clothes and the worry lines on his forehead, he looks like my dad again, not some crazed maniac. And his confusion seems genuine. Is it possible it was someone else? But who would try to hurt Thayer?
“Um…” I don’t know whether to tell my dad what happened. Suddenly I’m not even sure what did happen.
My dad sighs. “I’m not going to say it again. Get in the car, Sutton. It’s dangerous out here at night. You could get hurt.”
Exhaustion overcomes me, and I walk around the side of the car and let myself in. As we slowly drive back down the hill, I realize I wasn’t far from the main road at all. I can see the neighborhood across the street from the canyon easily now. Ethan Landry sits on his front porch, fiddling with his telescope and probably hoping to catch a better view of the full moon. Science geeks are into that kind of thing. Next door all of the girls on the tennis team are on Nisha’s lawn, secretly smoking cigarettes. I feel a pinch of guilt—I was supposed to be there tonight for our back-to-school team sleepover. Instead, I’d chosen Thayer. And look where that got him.
“What are you doing here?” I ask. “Why did you chase us?”
My dad looks frustrated. “I wanted to tell you the truth. Except you ran away before I had the chance.”
“The truth about…what?”
“About the woman I was with,” my dad says. His body looks stiff as he arches forward and grips the wheel.
I whirl around to face my father. My pulse ratchets up as I put the pieces together. This was why Thayer had dragged me away from the overlook and practically pushed me down the trail. My dad was with another woman up in Sabino Canyon. Someone who wasn’t my mother.
“Another woman?” I squeak.
“I can explain, Sutton,” my dad says. “It’s not how it looks.”
But I know exactly how it looks—and what it is. Sabino Canyon is the perfect place to carry on a secret affair: It’s super-romantic and very private. That’s why I’d brought Thayer here tonight. “You’re cheating on Mom,” I spit. “What more is there to explain? I don’t need to know the gory details, like what kind of freaking lingerie your trashy mistress prefers.” My fingers curl on the door handle.
My father’s eyes open wide. “Sutton,” he says, grabbing my hand. “It’s not like that at all.” His foot slams the gas pedal and he curves the SUV into an abrupt U-turn. We’re heading back toward Sabino Canyon.
“Where are we going?” I shriek. The car plunges into a hole in the dirt and pops back up again, throwing me off balance. My elbow jams against the window. “Let me out!”
“Sutton, if you could just give me a second, I’ll explain everything.” He navigates the rocky road, his gaze boring through the windshield. My nerves flare as he guns the car into the Sabino parking lot and skids over the gravel. His foot lands on the brake and the car crunches to a stop. Then he glances around like he’s looking for someone. Other than that same rusted-out brown car, the lot is empty.
“Dad?” I press. “What the hell is going on?”
“It’s not what you think—I’m not having an affair.” My dad shifts the car into park. “I know you’ve been curious about your biological mom for a while now. And I know the fact that your mom hasn’t wanted to discuss it is why you’ve pulled away from us in the past year.” He closes his eyes and takes a long breath. “That woman you saw me with tonight, her name is Raven, but she used to go by Becky. Sutton, she’s…your mother.”
I stare at him. The words take a few seconds to sink in. “What?” And then, “You’re having an affair with my mother?”
“No!” Mr. Mercer shakes his head quickly. His light eyes hold my gaze. “She’s your mother…and she’s my daughter. Which means you’re my granddaughter.”
I suddenly feel like my mind won’t work. Like synapses are firing in all the wrong directions. “What are you talking about?” I whisper.
“Kristin and I had Becky when we were much younger,” my dad says slowly, his eyes searching my face as if gauging how much I can handle. “And Becky was very young when she had you. You were just a few weeks old when she left you with us.” He opens his palm and reaches a hand out to grab mine, but I ball my fist against my side.