Penwick

Summer had restored the Selwyn manor to something resembling its old self. Not completely, June doubted it ever would.

But her shoes had spread across the upstairs landing again. Her broom was propped beside the back door. Lars had returned to his usual place in June's bedroom, where he continued to live a life of remarkable stability despite everything happening around him.

Her father's records had multiplied; that was new. The turntable from London now occupied a table in the sitting room, and what had begun with three records had somehow become seventeen.

The thing that least resembled its old self was June's father, funnily enough. He had seemed considerably on edge since June returned from her school trip to Esikkent. It felt like he was the teenager, skittering around the large house to hide something, or someone, from his parent. This was his childhood home too, anyway, so he knew all the best places to avoid someone.

This morning, however, he was not avoiding June. The pair sat in the breakfast nook with plates of breakfast (what else) in front of them. Phinehas had made himself tea ten minutes ago. His sat untouched beside him. June had noticed this approximately nine minutes ago.

Something was going on.

June reached for the marmalade.

"So."

And there it was.

June looked up.

Phinehas cleared his throat. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you."

She slowly lowered the marmalade. "Okay..."

"It's nothing bad."

June raised her eyebrow, grabbing a bite of her toast"I didn't think it was."

"Right. Good." He picked up his tea, seemed to remember it had been sitting untouched for ten minutes, and put it back down.

June waited. Her father looked distinctly uncomfortable.

She had seen him give interviews to rooms full of journalists. She had watched him argue with publishers, critics and, on one memorable occasion, a woman who had cornered him in Flourish and Blotts to explain that he had fundamentally misunderstood the ending of his own novel.

"I've been seeing someone."

June blinked. "Oh."

Phinehas watched her carefully.

There was a brief silence.

June wasn't entirely sure what she was supposed to say next.

"Who?"

Her father hesitated.

And somehow, that was enough.

June knew.

"Liora?" A sheepish sort of smile appeared on his face. June dropped her toast onto her plate. "Oh my God..."

"Is that bad?"

"No!" The tone was sharper than June had meant it, surprising both of them. June sat back. "No. No, that's not bad. I just..."

She trailed off. Of course it was Liora. She had seen them together after opening night. She'd watched her father talk to Liora with an ease June hadn't seen in years, certainly not since the divorce. She'd even left them alone deliberately.

It was incredible what the mind could convince itself was untrue, despite knowing deep down it was real. June managed only to get out, "How long?"

"We made it official about a month ago." June picked up her toast again, mostly because she needed something to do with her hands. "I wanted to see where things went first," he said. "Before I involved you."

...Reasonable. June took another bite of toast. "And things are..." She gestured vaguely. "Going?"

Phinehas smiled. "It's going well."

June nodded slowly. There was a strange feeling in her stomach. It wasn't anger. She knew anger quite well. It wasn't dislike either. June liked Liora. She was clever and funny. And her father liked her.

Clearly.

"So you're boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Phinehas nearly choked on the bite of scrambled eggs he'd taken. "I haven't heard it put like that in some time," he said once he'd recovered.

"But... That's what you are, right?"

"Technically, yes."

June poked at her eggs with her fork.

Boyfriend and girlfriend.

Her father had a girlfriend.

That was bizarre.

She tried the sentence again in her head.

It was still bizarre.

For years, home had been her and her father. There were other people around them, obviously. Friends came and went, relatives visited, her father's colleagues occasionally stayed for dinner, and June herself disappeared to school for most of the year.

But underneath all of that, there were two of them.

June and Dad.

She had never really considered that arrangement temporary.

Perhaps that was foolish. She had asked him only a few months ago whether he was happy, and she'd listened when he'd told her he wanted to find out who he would become next. She had wanted that for him.

Apparently, she had imagined the next version of her father looking remarkably similar to the current one.

"And... you're happy?" It was the same question she'd asked in London, except this time she already knew the answer.

Her father smiled. "Yes."

June watched him for a moment, then nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah."

Phinehas seemed to be waiting for something else. June wasn't sure there was anything else.

She liked Liora. Her father was happy. There was no problem here for June to solve, no objection she could reasonably make, and she didn't particularly want to make one anyway.

Phinehas picked up his tea again. "So you're alright?"

"I like her," June said after a moment. "And you're happy. So I think I'm happy about it too."

"You think?" Phinehas' face blanched slightly.

"Well, you've had a month to get used to this. I've had a few minutes."

"Fair," Phinehas chuckled.

"I reserve the right to require at least a day," June smirked.

"I'll give you two."

"How generous," June laughed as she reached for her glass of orange juice.

It still felt strange.

She suspected it would continue feeling strange for a while, because Liora wasn't simply an actress anymore, or someone her father knew, or the woman June had once handed a bouquet after opening night.

She was someone her father was seeing.

Someone who, if things continued going well...

That thought produced another small twist somewhere in her stomach, although June couldn't quite decide whether it was apprehension, curiosity, or deep discomfort.

Probably all three.