Chương 6
"Was it?"
"No."
She looked at the picture.
"It was mine."
A small smile appeared.
"Mom made you apologize."
Daniel almost smiled too.
"I don't remember apologizing."
"You didn't."
The smile disappeared from Lauren's face.
"You just gave it back."
It was such a small memory.
Almost meaningless.
But it reminded Daniel of something he had forgotten.
Lauren had not always been the person he blamed.
Before everything broke, she had been his sister.
The person who taught him how to ride a bike.
The person who sat outside his bedroom after nightmares.
The person who told him not to believe everything their father said when he was angry.
Daniel looked at her.
"Why didn't I remember that?"
Lauren shrugged.
"Maybe because after a while, people remember the worst parts."
The sentence stayed with him.
Evelyn stood and walked toward the kitchen.
Daniel watched her.
"Where are you going?"
"I need coffee."
The answer was so ordinary that it surprised him.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Lauren laughed quietly.
"What?"
She shook her head.
"It's just very Mom."
Daniel looked confused.
"What is?"
"Everything can fall apart, and she still thinks coffee is the next step."
Evelyn looked back at them.
"You two want some?"
Daniel stared.
His family was standing in the middle of a painful discovery, and his mother was offering coffee.
It should have annoyed him.
Instead, something inside him loosened.
"Yeah."
Lauren nodded.
"Sure."
The three of them moved into the kitchen.
The same kitchen where Daniel had eaten cereal before school.
The same kitchen where his mother had cried silently while washing dishes after his father left.
The same kitchen where Lauren had once thrown a glass against the wall during an argument and then spent two hours cleaning every piece of it.
Nothing about the room had changed.
Everything about them had.
Evelyn started the coffee maker.
The machine clicked and hummed.
Nobody spoke for a while.
It was uncomfortable.
But it was not the kind of silence they had lived with before.
This silence did not hide anything.
It waited.
"Can I ask something?" Daniel said.
Evelyn turned around.
"Of course."
"Why did you stay?"
She looked at him.
"After Dad left."
The question surprised Lauren too.
Evelyn leaned against the counter.
"I don't know if there was one reason."
She thought for a moment.
"I was scared."
Daniel nodded.
"I figured."
"But I was also angry."
That surprised him.
"At him?"
"At myself."
Evelyn looked down.
"I kept thinking if I had been smarter, stronger, less trusting, maybe things would have been different."
Lauren looked at her.
"You blamed yourself."
"Yes."
The coffee finished brewing.
Evelyn poured three cups.
"I spent years trying to make sure neither of you blamed yourselves."
Daniel looked at the cup in front of him.
"And you took all of it instead."
She did not answer.
She did not need to.
The answer was there.
A knock sounded at the front door.
All three of them looked toward the hallway.
Nobody had expected anyone.
Evelyn frowned.
"I am not expecting anyone."
Daniel felt tension return.
After everything they had discovered, the sound of a stranger at the door felt impossible to ignore.
Evelyn walked slowly toward the entrance.
Daniel and Lauren followed behind.
She opened the door.
A man stood on the porch holding a small package.
He looked to be in his late fifties.
His expression changed when he saw Evelyn.
For a second, he looked like he had made a mistake.
Then he looked past her.
At Daniel.
"I think this belongs to you."
He held out the package.
Daniel did not move.
"Who are you?"
The man looked uncomfortable.
"My name is Michael."
He glanced at the house.
"I knew your father."
Nobody spoke.
Michael lowered the package slightly.
"And I should have brought this here a long time ago."
Daniel looked at the package but did not reach for it.
The man on the porch kept holding it out, his arm slowly lowering as the silence stretched.
Evelyn's hand remained on the doorknob.
"Michael," she said.
The name sounded like a memory.
Daniel noticed that immediately.
His mother rarely sounded surprised anymore.
She sounded surprised now.
"You know him?" Lauren asked.
Evelyn looked at the man.
"I knew of him."
Michael gave a small nod.
"That is probably the most accurate way to put it."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Who are you?"
The man looked at him carefully.
"I worked with your father."
The answer was not enough.
Daniel felt the old frustration return.
Everyone seemed to know pieces of his life except him.
Everyone had a chapter they could open whenever they wanted.
He had only ever been allowed to read the summary.
"Worked with him where?"
Michael glanced at Evelyn.
She did not stop him.
"At a construction company outside Richmond."
Daniel frowned.
"We never lived in Richmond."
"No."
Michael looked down at the package.
"Your father did."
The sentence created a silence that felt heavier than the others.
Lauren's expression changed.
"After he left?"
Michael nodded.
"Yes."
Daniel stared at him.
"You knew where he was?"
Michael looked uncomfortable.
"Yes."
The honesty was almost worse than a lie.
Daniel stepped back.
"How long?"
"Almost fifteen years."
Lauren looked at Evelyn.
"Mom?"
Evelyn's face tightened.
"I didn't know."
Michael looked at her.
"I believe you."
Daniel heard the words but struggled to accept them.
A stranger had just walked into a house full of secrets and somehow seemed more certain than anyone else.
"Why are you here now?" Daniel asked.
Michael looked at the package.
"Because I found something when I was cleaning out my office."
Daniel did not move.
"And you waited?"
Michael nodded.
"Too long."
"Why?"
The man looked toward the street.
Cars passed in the distance.
A neighbor walked a dog near the sidewalk and glanced briefly toward the house before continuing.
The world outside kept going.
May you like
It bothered Daniel.
"I thought I was protecting your father's privacy."
