Iris's POV 

The words sat in my ear for a second before they fully registered. I pulled the phone away, stared at the screen like it might explain itself, then put it back.

“What do you mean by that?” My voice came out flatter than I meant. “You’ve been distant for months, Dad. You barely texts, no calls. Now all of a sudden you want me to come home?”

There was a short silence on the other end. I could hear him breathing, the faint sound of a TV somewhere in the background of his house.

“Your stepmother’s traveling,” he said finally. “Business trip. She would be gone for eight...