Chương 6
He handed Ruiz his license.
She studied it.
“Frank Stallone.”
“Yes.”
She looked at him again.
Something faint shifted in her expression.
Recognition, perhaps.
Not admiration.
He had learned years ago that the two were rarely the same thing.
Ruiz returned the card.
“If you leave, make sure dispatch has a current number.”
“I’m staying until my daughter asks me to go.”
Anna looked at him.
Ruiz nodded and moved toward the gate.
Evelyn followed her.
“Officer.”
Ruiz stopped.
“I want this handled properly.”
“That’s what we’re doing.”
“I mean without special treatment.”
Ruiz glanced at Frank.
“So do I.”
That answer seemed to satisfy Evelyn and irritate her at the same time.
After the officers left, silence fell harder than it had before they arrived.
Anna picked up Lily.
“Inside.”
Lily pointed to Frank.
“Grandpa too?”
Anna hesitated.
Then she opened the sliding door.
“For coffee.”
Frank nearly laughed.
It was the least ceremonial invitation he had received in years.
He removed his muddy shoes on the patio before stepping inside.
Marcus and Leonard remained outdoors without being asked.
Anna noticed.
“Are they going to stand there all afternoon?”
“They can leave.”
Frank looked through the glass.
Marcus met his eyes.
Frank made a small motion with two fingers.
Marcus nodded and said something to Leonard.
Both men walked toward the gate.
Lily waved.
Leonard waved back.
Marcus pretended not to see, then turned at the gate and gave her a brief salute.
Lily giggled.
Frank followed Anna into the kitchen.
The room smelled like toast and the lemon cleaner she used on the counters.
A half-finished cup of coffee sat beside the sink.
There were crayons scattered across the table and a small plastic bowl containing three grapes and a single cracker.
Frank looked at the bowl.
“Lunch?”
Anna opened a cabinet.
“Breakfast became lunch.”
“That happens.”
“You wouldn’t know.”
He looked at her.
She kept her back turned.
There it was.
Not accusation exactly.
History.
“I probably wouldn’t.”
Anna took out three mugs.
She put one back.
Frank noticed.
“Danny staying outside?”
“He can come in when he stops sulking.”
“I heard that,” Daniel called through the open door.
Anna poured coffee.
“You were supposed to.”
Lily climbed onto a chair and set Rosie on the table.
Mud immediately stained the wood.
Anna stared at it.
Then she laughed.
The sound surprised everyone.
It lasted only a second.
She covered her mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
Frank looked at the muddy doll.
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel came inside and leaned against the counter.
“For finally losing it.”
Anna handed him the folded medical paper from his pocket.
“Read.”
He groaned.
She pointed.
He read.
Evelyn entered last.
She kept her coat on.
Nobody asked why.
Anna poured coffee for herself and Frank.
She did not offer any to Evelyn.
That omission was so unlike her that Evelyn noticed immediately.
“So this is what we’re doing now?”
Anna looked at her.
“What?”
“Punishing me.”
“I made two cups.”
“You made coffee for the man who struck me.”
Frank set his mug down.
Anna said, “I made coffee for my father.”
Evelyn’s face went still.
“That distinction seems convenient.”
Anna sat beside Lily.
“No, what’s convenient is pretending today started when Dad hit you.”
Frank looked at her.
Evelyn did too.
Daniel stopped reading.
Anna rubbed both hands around the mug.
“I’m not defending him.”
“Sounds like you are.”
“I’m not.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Anna looked at Lily.
The child was whispering something to Rosie and trying to wipe the doll’s hair with a napkin.
Anna lowered her voice.
“I’m saying I left my daughter with you because I thought you were safe.”
Evelyn stared.
“She was safe.”
“She was terrified.”
“She was upset.”
“Those are not the same thing.”
“She was crying over a toy.”
“She was crying because you and Danny were humiliating her.”
Daniel flinched.
Evelyn folded her arms.
“Humiliating is a dramatic word.”
Anna looked at her.
“She’s three.”
“And?”
“She can’t defend herself from adults deciding her feelings are entertainment.”
“It was not entertainment.”
Daniel said quietly, “For me it kind of was.”
Evelyn turned on him.
“What?”
He rubbed his jaw.
“I kicked the doll because she was crying and it annoyed me.”
“That is not what happened.”
“It is exactly what happened.”
“You were helping me make a point.”
“No, Mom.”
His voice changed.
The sarcasm disappeared.
“I was being an asshole.”
Lily looked up at the word.
Anna pointed at him.
“Language.”
Daniel nodded.
“Sorry.”
Lily whispered to Rosie, “He said a bad word.”
Frank looked down into his coffee so nobody would see the corner of his mouth move.
Evelyn looked from Daniel to Anna.
“You’re both acting as though I abused her.”
Anna was quiet for several seconds.
“No.”
Evelyn seemed relieved too quickly.
Anna continued.
“I’m acting like you enjoyed having power over someone who couldn’t say no to you.”
The relief vanished.
Frank felt something cold move through him.
He had heard those words before.
Not exactly those words.
Close enough.
Anna’s mother had once said them to him in a kitchen much like this one.
You like being needed because needed people get to decide everything.
At the time, he had called it nonsense.
Years later, he had called it unfair.
Only recently had he stopped calling it anything.
Evelyn took one step backward.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Anna’s voice stayed calm.
“I think I do.”
“No.”
“Mom, I asked you not to discipline Lily when you babysat.”
“I didn’t discipline her.”
“You made her stand by mud and told her to retrieve a toy Danny kicked away.”
“She threw it first.”
Lily looked up.
“No, Grandma.”
Everyone went silent.
Evelyn stared at her.
Lily’s voice became smaller.
“I put Rosie on the bench.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Anna looked at him.
He nodded.
“She did.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
Not guilt.
Fear.
May you like
Frank saw it before anyone else.
Anna saw it a second later.
