Chương 3
Mara looked at Daniel and saw the accusation land where no apology could reach it.
His face changed slowly, first confusion, then disbelief, then something uglier because he had to recognize his own part in it.
“You knew she had the recording?” Evelyn asked him.
Daniel did not answer.
Evelyn’s attention sharpened.
“You knew?”
“I knew she had recorded something here.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
Daniel gave a small, disbelieving shake of his head.
“That’s what you’re worried about?”
“You knew she was spying on me.”
“She wasn’t spying on you.”
“You just heard her admit she recorded me.”
“Accidentally.”
“Oh, suddenly you believe everything she says.”
Mara flinched at the word suddenly.
Daniel heard it too.
His shoulders dropped.
Evelyn stepped toward him, regaining a little of the authority that had carried her through most of his life.
“This woman brings a recording into my home, plays it in front of my family, destroys my marriage, and you are standing there defending her.”
Richard looked up from the sofa.
“Your marriage was not destroyed by a recording.”
Evelyn turned.
“You don’t know what happened.”
“No.”
His voice was tired now.
“I know what I heard.”
“You heard a fragment.”
“Then tell me the rest.”
She looked at him.
Richard waited.
Mara could hear the refrigerator humming in the kitchen.
The lawn mower outside had stopped.
A delivery truck rolled somewhere along the street and gave one short reversing beep.
Evelyn folded her arms.
“It was over.”
Richard’s gaze did not move.
“What was?”
She swallowed.
“The relationship.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
Mara watched his hand curl against his thigh.
Richard asked, “How long?”
“Richard.”
“How long?”
Evelyn’s mouth tightened.
“Several months.”
“Several.”
“Seven.”
The number produced no obvious reaction in him.
That was somehow worse.
“When?”
“Last year.”
Richard looked down at the carpet.
“So while we were planning the lake trip.”
Evelyn’s face twitched.
“I don’t know.”
“You bought matching luggage.”
“That has nothing to do with anything.”
Richard gave a quiet breath through his nose.
“No, I suppose it doesn’t.”
Mara glanced at the phone in her hand.
The screen had dimmed.
A notification from her editor sat beneath the recording app, asking whether tomorrow’s draft was still on schedule.
The ordinary question felt ridiculous.
Tomorrow existed.
Her job existed.
There were groceries in her refrigerator at home and damp towels on the bathroom floor and a utility bill Daniel had forgotten to pay.
Some part of life had continued while this room came apart.
Daniel stepped toward Mara.
“Can we go?”
She looked at him.
He stopped himself from reaching for her.
“Please.”
Mara looked at Richard.
He was still staring at the carpet.
Evelyn had moved nearer the window, rigid again, though the pose no longer looked powerful.
It looked like something holding her upright.
Mara slipped the phone into her hand more securely.
“Yes.”
Daniel exhaled.
Evelyn said, “Of course.”
Mara turned back.
“Of course what?”
“You get to drop a bomb and walk away.”
Mara stared at her.
“You assaulted me.”
Evelyn’s eyes flashed.
“I lost my temper.”
“You planted your wallet in my purse.”
“I said I needed you gone.”
“That’s not an explanation.”
“I panicked.”
Mara laughed once.
The movement hurt her cheek.
“You panicked very efficiently.”
Daniel murmured, “Mara.”
She looked at him.
He was not defending Evelyn this time.
He was asking Mara not to escalate.
Even now.
Something inside her went flat.
“Get your keys,” she said.
Daniel stared at her for a second, then nodded.
He crossed toward the small entry table where they had left them.
Evelyn watched him.
“You’re leaving me here like this?”
Daniel stopped with his back to her.
Mara saw the old reflex tighten his shoulders.
He turned slowly.
“What do you want me to do?”
“You are my son.”
“I know.”
“Then act like it.”
Daniel’s face reddened.
“I have spent my whole life acting like it.”
Nobody spoke.
He picked up the keys.
Evelyn’s expression sharpened with hurt.
Daniel looked almost frightened by what he had said.
Mara recognized that too.
It was the face of someone who had finally broken a rule so old he had forgotten it was a rule.
Richard stood.
“Mara.”
She waited.
“I need a copy of the recording.”
Evelyn turned toward him.
“No.”
Richard ignored her.
Mara said, “I’ll send it.”
“Not tonight.”
“Why?”
He looked at Evelyn.
“Because I don’t know what I’m going to do tonight.”
For the first time, his voice cracked.
Only slightly.
Evelyn’s face softened.
“Richard.”
He held up a hand.
“Please don’t.”
She stopped.
Mara took Daniel’s keys from him.
“I’ll drive.”
“I can drive.”
“You’re shaking.”
Daniel looked down at his hand.
He was.
He gave her the keys without arguing.
They crossed the entryway together.
At the front door, Mara heard Evelyn say Richard’s name again.
Mara did not turn around.
Outside, the afternoon was offensively pleasant.
Sunlight lay across the clipped lawn.
A sprinkler ticked three houses down.
Someone had left a child’s red bicycle on a driveway.
Daniel followed Mara to the car and opened the passenger door for her out of habit.
She walked around to the driver’s side instead.
He stood there for a moment.
“Oh.”
Mara unlocked the car.
They got in.
Neither of them fastened their seat belts immediately.
Daniel put both hands over his face.
Mara started the engine.
The air-conditioning came on too high and blew loose strands of hair across her eyes.
She turned it down.
Daniel said, “I’m sorry.”
Mara backed out of the driveway.
He waited.
She did not answer.
“I should have stepped in.”
She stopped at the end of the street.
A woman jogging with a golden retriever crossed in front of them.
Daniel watched her pass.
“I froze.”
Mara drove on.
“I don’t know why.”
“Yes, you do.”
He looked at her.
Mara kept her eyes on the road.
“She’s your mother.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
May you like
“No.”
“I didn’t know what was happening.”
