Chương 4
“She had me by the hair.”
“I know.”
“She slapped me.”
“I know.”
“You watched.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
The traffic light ahead turned red.
Mara stopped.
Her hands were steady now.
That bothered her more than the shaking had.
Daniel leaned back and stared through the windshield.
“I thought if I stepped in, it would make it worse.”
“For who?”
He did not answer.
The light turned green.
Mara drove.
Two blocks later Daniel said, “I didn’t believe you stole the money.”
Mara almost smiled.
“That’s supposed to help?”
“No.”
“You looked at me like you were waiting to see.”
“I was trying to understand.”
“You always are.”
He looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you stand there figuring out the perfect position where nobody can accuse you of choosing.”
“That’s not fair.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you keep deciding what I was thinking.”
“Then tell me.”
He opened his mouth.
Mara waited.
Daniel rubbed his thumb across the edge of his seat belt.
“I thought my mother believed it.”
“That’s different from thinking it happened.”
“Yes.”
“But not different enough to defend me.”
He turned toward the window.
The silence lasted four intersections.
Mara’s cheek had begun to throb with her heartbeat.
At home, she parked crookedly and did not correct it.
Daniel noticed.
Usually he would have.
He said nothing.
Inside their apartment, Mara set the keys on the counter and went directly to the freezer.
She wrapped ice in a dish towel.
Daniel hovered in the kitchen doorway.
“Can I look?”
“At what?”
“Your cheek.”
“No.”
He nodded.
Mara pressed the towel against her face.
The cold hurt first, then dulled everything.
Daniel filled a glass from the tap and drank half of it without taking a breath.
“I didn’t know about the wallet.”
“I know.”
“I need you to believe that.”
“I do.”
He set the glass down.
“I didn’t know she would do something like that.”
Mara lowered the ice.
“She has spent three years telling you I’m dishonest in every way she can without using the word.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
Mara looked at him.
“This was just the first time she needed everyone else to believe it too.”
Daniel leaned against the counter.
“You hate her.”
Mara stared.
He immediately looked ashamed.
“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I mean there’s history.”
“She hit me, Daniel.”
“I know.”
“And you still need to make room for context.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
He pushed away from the counter.
“I’m trying to understand how we got here.”
“We got here because your mother was having an affair and thought framing me for theft was easier than facing her husband.”
“I mean us.”
Mara went still.
Daniel looked at the floor.
“That’s what I mean.”
The apartment seemed suddenly smaller than Evelyn’s house, though Mara had always liked that about it.
The kitchen opened directly into the living room.
Daniel’s shoes were beneath the coffee table.
A blanket Mara had meant to fold was still draped over one arm of the couch.
Their wedding photograph stood on a shelf beside a stack of unopened mail.
Mara looked at it.
Daniel followed her eyes.
Neither of them spoke for a while.
Finally he said, “Are you leaving me?”
Mara pressed the ice back to her cheek.
“I don’t know.”
His face tightened.
“Because of today?”
Mara looked at him.
He corrected himself before she had to.
“No.”
His voice dropped.
“Not because of today.”
She sat at the small dining table.
Daniel remained standing.
Mara said, “Do you know why I didn’t play you the recording Friday?”
He shook his head.
“Because I was scared you’d find a way to make me apologize for hearing it.”
Daniel recoiled.
“I would not have done that.”
“You told me I was always looking for reasons to dislike her.”
“I said you two bring out the worst in each other.”
“She calls me tacky at dinner.”
“She doesn’t use that word.”
Mara laughed despite herself.
It hurt enough to make her wince.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Okay.”
“That right there.”
“I heard it.”
“No, I want you to actually hear it.”
He pulled out a chair and sat across from her.
Mara watched him.
“She hurts me,” Mara said.
“And you edit it until it sounds mutual.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
He looked down.
For several seconds, all Mara could hear was the compressor in the refrigerator.
Then his phone began vibrating on the table.
He looked at the screen.
“Dad.”
Mara said nothing.
Daniel answered.
“Hey.”
Richard spoke long enough that Daniel’s expression changed.
He sat straighter.
“What do you mean?”
Another pause.
“No, we just got home.”
Daniel looked at Mara.
His face had gone pale.
“What did she do?”
Mara lowered the ice.
Daniel listened.
Then he said very quietly, “Dad, don’t let her leave.”
Richard answered.
Daniel stood.
“Call Claire.”
He grabbed the car keys.
Mara rose too.
“What happened?”
Daniel ended the call.
For a moment he seemed unable to say it.
Then he looked at her.
“My mother’s gone.”
Mara frowned.
“What?”
“She took her car.”
“Where?”
“He doesn’t know.”
Daniel shoved his phone into his pocket.
“She took the wallet too.”
Mara stared at him.
The detail made no sense until a colder thought arrived.
“What else was in it?”
Daniel stopped reaching for the door.
His eyes met hers.
Neither of them had checked.
And neither of them knew whether five hundred missing dollars had been the only lie Evelyn had prepared.
Daniel looked toward the apartment door as if the answer might be waiting on the other side.
Mara set the ice towel on the table.
“Call your father back.”
Daniel already had the phone in his hand.
Richard answered on the first ring.
“Dad, what was in the wallet?”
There was a pause.
Mara could hear Richard’s voice, low and indistinct.
Daniel frowned.
“Besides cash.”
May you like
Another pause.
“Credit cards, okay.”
