Under Threat Read Online Free Page A

like—except okra.”
    Leah makes a face. “Doesn’t count as a food.”
    Diane laughs. “Luckily, I made my special okra-free pizza.” She opens the oven door
and peeks in. “Maybe five more minutes. So, can I get your advice about something?”
    She sits down at the kitchen table and gestures for us to join her. She looks a little
nervous—biting her bottom lip like Leah does and twisting her fingers together. Diane
is ten years younger than my mom and a hundred times less confident.
    “Sure,” I say, curious. “What’s up?”
    Diane puts her elbows on the table and props her chin on her hands. “It’s about a
woman at my church. She approached me the other day because she’d heard about Leah.
Being gay, I mean. Turns out her son has just come out to her. He’s older—almost
thirty, I think—but she’s beside herself. She hasn’t told her husband, and she’s
scared of how he’ll react.”
    I roll my eyes. It’s rude, I know, but I can’t help it.
    Diane catches my expression and smiles. “I know it must seem silly to your generation,
but these people are older. In their sixties.”
    “So’s my dad,” I say. “Doesn’t mean you have to be a bigot.”
    “Did you tell her about PFLAG?” Leah asks. “Maybe if she could meet some other parents
and hear their stories…”
    “Of course,” Diane says. “I invited her to our next meeting.”
    My phone rings in my pocket and I pull it out, glancing at the screen.
    “Sorry,” I say to Diane. “It’s my mom. I should just…” I answer the phone. “Mom?
What’s up?”
    “Oh honey,” she says, and I can hear the strain in her voice. “I’m in the emergency
room. It’s your father.”
    And the air all whooshes out of my lungs like I just got kicked in the chest.

Chapter Six
    “At the hospital?” I say. “What happened? Is he…is Dad…”
    Leah’s hand flies to her mouth, and the color drains from her face.
    “So stupid,” Mom says. “He was just taking out the recycling, and he slipped on the
ice. Broken ankle. Badly broken, apparently. They’re going to pin it.” She breaks
off. “Franny, honey. Are you crying ? What’s wrong?”
    “I thought…” I choke out. “For a second, I thought…” I thought he’d been shot. But
I can’t say it. Not in front of Diane.
    “You thought he’d had a stroke?” Mom says. “No, no. Stop worrying. Your dad’s as
fit and strong as plenty of men twenty years younger.”
    “Yeah.” I wipe my hand across my eyes, blinking away tears.
    “Though he’ll be off his ankle for six weeks. Honestly, I can’t quite see how we’re
going to manage that. Still, one step at a time, right?”
    “Right.” My heart rate is slowly returning to normal. Leah and Diane are both staring
at me. “Should I come to the hospital?”
    “No point,” she says. “You’d just be waiting around anyway. I’ll stay here with him
until he’s out of surgery. We’ll see you at home, though probably not until the morning.
Don’t wait up.”
    “Okay,” I say. “See you in the morning.”
    When I hang up, Diane puts her hand on my shoulder. “What is it, Franny? What happened?”
    “My dad slipped on the ice,” I say. “He broke his ankle.”
    “Oh dear.” She hesitates. “I’m glad it’s not worse. You looked so upset…”
    I look down at the floor. “I thought… um, he has high blood pressure. And awhile
back, he had a ministroke type thing.” I shrug. “So I thought the worst, you know?”
    None of that is technically untrue, but I still feel like I am lying to her.
    “Do you want to stay the night?” she says. “If you’d rather not be at home by yourself?”
    I hesitate. The front door bangs open and Jake walks in. He stands there, staring
coldly at me for a moment, then pulls off his boots and walks down the hall without
saying a word. I shake my head. “No,” I say. “I should go home. I’ll be fine.”
    A couple of hours later, I regret those words.
    I’m not fine at all.