Chương 7
“You knew that.”
Evelyn’s lips parted.
“Anna.”
“You knew she didn’t throw it.”
“I thought she had been careless.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“She leaves things everywhere.”
“So you lied.”
“I did not lie.”
“You told Dad she dropped it.”
Evelyn looked at Frank as if his presence had created the contradiction.
Frank did nothing.
Anna stood.
Her hands were shaking now.
“When I was twelve, you told Dad I broke your watch.”
Evelyn’s face emptied.
Frank looked sharply at Anna.
Daniel whispered, “What?”
Anna kept staring at Evelyn.
“You said I dropped it in the sink.”
“Anna, that was decades ago.”
“You broke it.”
Evelyn’s throat moved.
Frank felt the room narrow.
He had forgotten the watch.
He had not forgotten punishing Anna.
He had made her work an entire summer in one of his offices to “learn responsibility.”
She had been twelve.
Anna looked at him then.
“You believed her.”
Frank could not answer.
She nodded once.
“That’s what I thought.”
Lily hugged Rosie tighter.
The coffee machine clicked as the warmer shut itself off.
Nobody moved.
Then Frank pushed his untouched mug away.
“I believed the adult,” he said.
Anna’s eyes stayed on him.
“That was the problem.”
Frank’s admission did not soften Anna’s face.
It made her look older.
Not old, exactly, but tired in a way that had nothing to do with the afternoon.
Evelyn pulled out a chair and sat without taking off her coat.
“That is not what happened with the watch.”
Anna laughed once.
It was not a pleasant sound.
“Of course.”
“I told the truth as I understood it.”
“You said you saw me knock it into the sink.”
“I thought I had.”
“You were in the hallway.”
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
He stared at the medical sheet as if it had become suddenly fascinating.
Anna continued.
“You weren’t even in the room.”
“Memory changes.”
“Funny how it always changes in your favor.”
“Enough.”
The word came from Frank.
Everyone looked at him.
He hated that he had said it.
Not because it was loud.
Because it was familiar.
For years, enough had been his favorite way to end conversations that had become inconvenient.
He corrected himself.
“No.”
His hand tightened around the back of the chair.
“Not enough.”
Anna said nothing.
Frank looked at Evelyn.
“What happened to the watch?”
Evelyn lifted her chin.
“You’re asking me about something from more than twenty years ago?”
“Yes.”
“That is absurd.”
“So answer.”
Anna’s eyes hardened.
“Dad.”
He looked at her.
“Don’t interrogate her.”
He released the chair.
“Right.”
Evelyn seized the shift immediately.
“Thank you.”
Anna turned toward her.
“That wasn’t for you.”
The kitchen went quiet again.
Lily pushed Rosie across the table on her back, humming under her breath.
One of the doll’s plastic shoes caught against a crayon.
Lily stopped and carefully moved the crayon out of the way.
Frank watched her because looking anywhere else felt invasive.
Daniel folded the medical paper along an existing crease.
Then unfolded it.
“I remember the watch.”
Anna turned.
Daniel still did not look up.
Evelyn said, “No, you don’t.”
“I do.”
“You were what, fifteen?”
“Sixteen.”
“You remember everything wrong from sixteen.”
“So do you, apparently.”
“Daniel.”
He finally looked at her.
“I heard you.”
Frank felt Anna stiffen beside him.
Daniel rubbed his jaw before continuing.
“You and Dad were arguing about money.”
Evelyn’s expression changed.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
Daniel saw it.
“So you do remember.”
“I remember arguments.”
“You threw something.”
“I did not.”
“It was the watch.”
Anna stopped breathing for a moment.
Frank could see it in her throat.
Daniel looked at her.
“I was upstairs.”
Anna said, “You never told me.”
“I didn’t know what happened after.”
“You heard her blame me.”
Daniel’s eyes dropped.
“I heard some of it.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was sixteen.”
“So?”
“I was scared of her.”
Evelyn shoved her chair backward.
“That is disgusting.”
Daniel flinched.
The reaction was fast and involuntary.
Frank saw Anna see it too.
Evelyn stood.
“You are rewriting your childhood because you’re embarrassed about what you did today.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“Maybe.”
“That’s exactly what you’re doing.”
“Maybe I’ve been doing that my whole life.”
“Don’t be theatrical.”
“I learned from the best.”
Frank expected Evelyn to slap him.
Her hand moved.
Then stopped.
Daniel noticed.
He leaned back against the counter.
“Go ahead.”
Evelyn’s fingers curled.
“Go ahead, Mom.”
Anna stepped between them.
“No.”
Daniel looked ashamed immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
“Everybody stop trying to hit everybody.”
Lily’s small voice carried across the kitchen.
They all turned.
She had both hands over Rosie’s ears.
“No hitting.”
Anna closed her eyes.
Frank felt the words settle somewhere below his ribs.
Evelyn sat down again.
Daniel looked toward the floor.
Frank moved away from the table and opened the refrigerator.
Nobody asked what he was doing.
He did not entirely know himself.
There was a carton of milk, a container of strawberries, two bottles of water, a plastic tub of hummus, and an impressive number of small yogurt cups.
He took out a bottle of water.
Then another.
He set one beside Daniel.
Daniel looked at it.
“Thanks.”
Frank twisted open his own.
His hands had finally stopped shaking.
Anna sat beside Lily.
“Sweetheart, can you take Rosie to the living room for a minute?”
Lily hugged the doll.
“You coming?”
“In a minute.”
“Grandpa too?”
Anna looked at Frank.
“Grandpa is staying here.”
Lily considered this.
Then she climbed down and walked toward the living room with Rosie tucked under one arm.
At the doorway she turned.
“No hitting.”
Anna said, “No hitting.”
Lily disappeared down the hall.
The adults waited until the sound of a cartoon started from the other room.
Then Anna looked at Daniel.
“Tell me everything you remember.”
Evelyn stood again.
“I’m leaving.”
Anna did not stop her.
That seemed to surprise Evelyn.
May you like
“You’re letting me walk out while he tells some fantasy?”
“You can leave.”
