Chương 3
“You’ve already decided what happened because your father walked in and turned the whole thing into one of his performances.”
Daniel pulled out a chair.
He did not sit.
“When were the other times?”
Vanessa gave a small laugh without humor.
“You really want an inventory?”
“Yes.”
“One time she grabbed frosting before your mother’s birthday cake was served.”
“That was three weeks ago.”
“And another time she kept opening the pantry after I told her not to.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
“Last Tuesday, maybe.”
Daniel looked toward the kitchen doorway.
Last Tuesday he had worked late.
Vanessa saw the calculation happening.
“Oh, wonderful.”
“What?”
“Now you’re building a case.”
“I’m trying to figure out what happens when I’m not here.”
“You’re usually not here.”
That stopped him.
Vanessa looked down at the melting condensation on the plastic bag.
“You leave at seven, you come back whenever your clients finally release you, and then you do the bedtime version of parenting.”
“That’s not fair.”
“No, it’s extremely fair.”
“I make breakfast with her every morning.”
“You put cereal in a bowl.”
“She likes cereal.”
“She likes you.”
Vanessa’s voice softened unexpectedly.
“That’s why you get the easy version.”
Daniel finally sat.
His ribs hurt where the table edge had caught him, though he could not tell whether Vincent’s punch or the collision had done more damage.
He touched the sore spot through his shirt.
Vanessa noticed.
“Does it hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
“I didn’t ask if you were fine.”
He looked at her.
For several seconds they were simply husband and wife again, two people who had once spent forty minutes in a hardware store arguing about drawer handles because neither wanted to admit they were frightened about combining households.
Then Vanessa looked away.
“I shouldn’t have hit her hand.”
Daniel waited.
“I said I shouldn’t have.”
“I heard you.”
“She makes me crazy sometimes.”
“That isn’t an excuse.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Her mouth tightened.
The softness vanished.
“You don’t get to interrogate me after standing there and agreeing with me.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
She was right about that.
He hated her for being right.
At Vincent’s house, Lily sat on the kitchen counter wearing one of her grandfather’s white undershirts over her blue dress because she had spilled syrup down the front of herself.
The shirt reached almost to her ankles.
Vincent stood at the stove attempting pancakes from a handwritten recipe his late wife had left inside a battered green cookbook.
He had made the batter too thin.
The first pancake resembled a map of Florida.
Lily inspected it.
“That’s wrong.”
“I noticed.”
“Grandma’s were circles.”
“Your grandmother had unfair advantages.”
“What?”
“Competence.”
Lily did not know the word, but Vincent’s tone made her smile.
He poured another pancake.
This one became something closer to an oval.
“Better?”
“No.”
“You’re a difficult customer.”
“Grandma made Mickey.”
Vincent stared at the skillet.
“You’re getting circles.”
The doorbell rang.
Lily immediately stopped smiling.
Vincent turned off the burner.
“It’s okay.”
“Is it Daddy?”
“I don’t know.”
She climbed down from the counter.
“Can I stay here?”
“Yes.”
Vincent walked to the front door and checked through the narrow window beside it.
His neighbor, Carol Bennett, stood on the porch holding a black jacket.
Vincent frowned and opened the door.
Carol was seventy-one and had appointed herself unofficial custodian of everyone’s misplaced property on the street.
“Daniel brought this,” she said.
Vincent looked at his jacket.
“Why do you have it?”
“Because he drove up, saw your car wasn’t here, and apparently decided my porch was a postal service.”
Vincent took it.
“I was parked in the garage.”
“I told him that.”
“And?”
“He looked like somebody had hit him.”
Carol paused.
“Which, judging from his lip, somebody did.”
Vincent said nothing.
Carol’s eyes narrowed.
“Oh, for God’s sake.”
“Good night, Carol.”
“It’s six-thirty.”
“Then enjoy your evening.”
He began closing the door.
She stopped it with two fingers.
“Lily all right?”
Vincent’s expression changed.
Carol saw enough.
“I’ll bring over some banana bread.”
“She’s having pancakes.”
“At six-thirty?”
“Apparently there are no laws here anymore.”
Carol released the door.
Lily appeared behind Vincent.
“Miss Carol?”
Carol leaned sideways.
“There she is.”
“Grandpa made Florida.”
Carol looked at Vincent.
“He cooks now?”
“No.”
“Good, because I was worried I’d missed something.”
Lily giggled.
Vincent closed the door after Carol left and found himself smiling despite everything.
Then his phone rang inside the jacket.
He pulled it out.
Daniel.
Vincent let it ring three times before answering.
“What?”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s eating.”
“I came by.”
“So Carol informed me.”
“I didn’t want to knock if she was asleep.”
“It’s not even seven.”
“I didn’t know.”
Vincent looked toward Lily.
She was pulling a stool across the kitchen floor, producing enough noise to wake the dead.
“She isn’t asleep.”
There was a pause.
“Can I talk to her?”
Vincent held the phone away from his ear.
“Lily, your father wants to talk to you.”
She stopped dragging the stool.
Her face became cautious.
“Do I have to?”
Daniel heard her.
Vincent brought the phone back.
“No.”
“Dad.”
“She asked.”
“I heard her.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Can you tell her I love her?”
“You can tell her tomorrow.”
Another silence followed.
Then Daniel said, “Vanessa admitted there were other times.”
Vincent’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“How many?”
“She says two.”
“You believe her?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a problem.”
“I know it’s a problem.”
“No, Daniel, you know the sentence.”
Vincent lowered his voice so Lily would not hear.
“You don’t know the problem yet.”
Daniel did not answer.
Vincent walked into the small den off the kitchen.
“Did Lily ever tell you anything?”
“No.”
“Did you ask?”
“No.”
“Then start there.”
“I’m trying.”
“You’re talking to me.”
“Because my daughter won’t talk to me.”
Vincent leaned against the desk.
There it was.
Not anger this time.
Fear.
May you like
Daniel had always hidden fear behind irritation, even as a boy.
At thirteen he had broken his wrist falling from a bicycle and spent the entire drive to the emergency room complaining about the upholstery.
