Luminosity (Gravity Series #3) (The Gravity Series) by Abigail Boyd Page A

already knew about the house being for sale. I also knew her parents were getting divorced, but I hadn’t told her yet. I bit my thumbnail, not knowing what to say.
    “Everyone and everything else is moving on,” she continued. “I don’t want to watch that by myself, knowing I can never change.”
    I opened my mouth to answer, but the sound of my parents shouting stopped me. Jenna and I both looked up at the ceiling, where we could hear Claire screaming and slamming things.
    Frowning at each other, we bolted to our feet and raced up the basement stairs. At the top of the staircase, I stalled with Jenna beside me. Claire was shaking Hugh’s phone in his face. He snatched it out of her hand and jammed it awkwardly into his pocket.
    “Thought you could hide her from me, did you?” Claire shouted. A jolt passed through me at the raw sound of her voice.
    “It’s not what you think, Claire,” Hugh said gruffly, backing up against the cupboards. He looked tired, the skin around his eyes puffy. But she kept after him.
    “Then tell me what it is,” Claire shot bitterly. She locked her arms across her chest like a bulletproof vest.
    “What is going on?” I asked. Jenna had conveniently disappeared again. I stepped up into the dining room. The tension was so thick I got instant goosebumps.
    Claire pointed her finger at Hugh. “Your father has been sending and receiving hundreds of text messages a week from Callie, the nurse at your school. He deleted them all, but I still saw the timestamps on his phone.”
    Now that Claire had backed up a little, Hugh stepped forward.
    “Why were you even checking my phone?” he barked.
    “You missed a phone call,” Claire said defensively. “I was checking to see if you’d gotten the text I sent earlier and stumbled onto this mass of missing messages.”
    “I can’t do this anymore,” Hugh said, pushing around her and moving towards the stairs.
    “What do you mean by that?” Claire asked, following him. I heard them stomp up to the second floor and into their room. Their door slammed so hard that the plates and glasses in the cabinets shook.
    I rushed up after them, not able to stop myself from hearing more. My father was actually having an affair? Of course, the signs had all been there, but it was still insane. I felt strange and scared, like we’d entered the Twilight Zone.
    I slowed my steps on the wooden floor, trying not to make it creak as I tiptoed to their room. They were shouting on the other side of the door.
    “Claire, pay attention. You know Thornhill isn’t what it seems. They are back to the same tricks they were up to when we were in high school, only with a few more recruits to their team.”
    “You’re just jealous, plain and simple. Those days are long over. We were stupid kids.”
    “Of course I’m jealous! My sales have gone down to nothing while those crooks are raking in unnecessary money. Callie works for me, Claire. Simple as that.”
    “You didn’t need to text her twenty times a day!”
    “And you didn’t need to get involved with Phillip Rhodes again!” Hugh shouted. “He’s not your lover anymore!”
    My heart thudded hard and stopped in my chest, rushing back with a furious, fluttering beat. Phillip and my mother? I felt like I might faint. Hugh had a begrudged past with him, so I’d briefly considered it as a reason before. But I’d never really believed it was possible.
    “We haven’t gotten involved. When we broke up that was the end of it. I told you I never approved of what they did. That’s why I left the prayer group before it disbanded.”
    Hugh paused, and when he spoke again his voice sounded weary. “I’m through trying to convince you. You stopped listening to me a long time ago. But you will not drag our daughter into this.”
    I heard them coming out of their room, so I beat a hasty retreat back down to the dining room. I was shaking like a leaf, my insides scorching hot but my skin cold. Surely, they must be