Big Fat Disaster Read Online Free

He’s
going
places!”
    I mutter, “Yeah, he
should
have gone to jail for the broken nose he gave her.” I’m watching my mom’s face in the rearview mirror, and I can see her temperature rising.
    “Colby! Enough!”
    “It’s not like
you
guys censor yourselves when you talk about the”—I throw up air quotes—“‘
situation
’. What I don’t get is why you don’t believe that Uncle Mark did that, and why Grandma thinks she messed up her life because she didn’t want to be hit anymore!”
    Mom’s definitely not nodding and smiling now: “You don’t know what you’re talking about, young lady. Mark Ellis is a powerful man, and he’s on your dad’s campaign committee. He has a lot of connections who have been very generous supporters. Besides, it’s Leah’s word against his, and the whole family knows that she’s always been infuriating.”
    I shrug and look out the window. “Just seems to me that seeing as how Leah’s actually Dad’s flesh and blood, he’d feel some loyalty to her. At least some protectiveness, I mean, damn, she showed us those pictures of what Mark did, and—”
    Mom’s eyes bug out at my use of a swear word. She swerves hard into the Jack in the Box parking lot and throws the car into Park. She throws off her seat belt and whips around to me. “Look at me!” She waits until I obey. “Now you listen to me, Colby Diane Denton: Your father is an honorable man. His ethics are without question, and I will not have you disrespecting him by questioning his judgment in any way, shape, or form. Leah is a misguided, unhappy woman. Your dad says that ever since they were children, she was always the one to stir up trouble. If he said the sky was blue, she’d say it was green just to be disagreeable. Sometimes, I swear you must be her child instead of mine! You
definitely
take after her, size-wise! If she’d take a little pride in her appearance, she’d probably still be married.”
    “Gee, thanks, Mom.” I either have a lump in my throat or a Ding Dong. Can’t be too sure at this point.
    Mom rolls her eyes but plunges forward. “Look, even if Mark did lose his temper once or twice, there’s nothing to be gained by the whole world finding out. Besides, who knows what she did to drive him to it? I don’t want to hear you bring it up again. It’s unfortunate that Leah took constructive criticism personally, but the way she handled it, with all that screaming and yelling, was wrong. After all: we
are
family.”
    “Some of the stuff y’all said to Leah and Ryan was really mean, Mom. Like, yelling at Ryan for telling on what those guys did to that girl?
Really
?”
    Mom cuts her eyes toward Drew, grimaces, and gives a micro-shake of her head, but I pretend not to notice. “He was the
only
guy on that football team who picked up the phone and called the cops, but instead of—”
    Mom shrieks, “
Enough
!” She spins back to the steering wheel, yanks her seat belt into place, and tries to start the car again, even though it’s already running. The engine makes a scratchy-screeching sound, and Mom’s growl echoes it. She grips the steering wheel with white knuckles and glares at me in the rearview mirror.
    I look away. Even though I promised myself that I wouldn’t eat any more today, the Oreo milkshake poster in the Jack in the Box window makes me want one. I breathe in deeply and let it out…glance down to see if the outline of the photo can be seen through my dress. “Hey, Mom? Seeing as how
I
didn’t steal twenty bucks from your purse and Drew entertained the troops while they folded up chairs, could we get Jack in the Box for dinner?”
    Mom scrunches her face angrily, then suddenly relaxes it and studies her own reflection in the rearview mirror. She runs the tip of her pinky over the flecks of mascara under her eyes, then rubs gently at a smudge of lipstick at the corner of her mouth. “We’re not
dogs
, Colby. We don’t reward ourselves with food.”

Chapter