Chương 7
“The second one.”
Nobody moved.
I looked at Vanessa.
Her face had gone pale.
Dad’s voice lowered.
“You told me we were sharing one suite.”
Vanessa said nothing.
Mom set the bottle on the counter.
“I didn’t want everyone fighting.”
“About what?” I asked.
Mom looked at me.
And I knew before she answered that whatever came next was the reason they had never intended to invite me.
Mom’s mouth moved once before any sound came out.
“She wanted some time alone with Brian.”
Vanessa stared at the counter.
Dad looked from Mom to my sister.
“That still doesn’t explain a second room.”
Mom rubbed both hands together as if warming them.
“The original plan was for all of us to stay in one suite.”
Brian’s face tightened.
“Original plan?”
Vanessa finally looked up.
“Can everyone stop acting like I committed a felony?”
“No one said that,” Dad said.
“You’re all looking at me like that.”
Dad’s voice stayed level.
“What changed?”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“Brian and I wanted privacy.”
“For five days?” I asked.
She shot me a look.
“For part of the trip.”
Mom spoke before she could.
“They booked another room for themselves.”
Dad stared at her.
“With what money?”
The kitchen seemed to shrink.
Brian stopped leaning against the counter.
Vanessa looked at Mom again, and the look between them contained too much history to be innocent.
Dad saw it too.
“Margaret.”
Mom took a breath.
“I helped.”
“How much?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“It was just a few hundred.”
Brian gave a short laugh that held no amusement.
“It was more than a few hundred.”
Vanessa turned toward him.
“Seriously?”
He looked tired in a way I had not noticed before.
“What?”
“You’re going to do this now?”
“You told me your mom volunteered.”
“She did.”
Mom said, “Vanessa.”
Dad stepped away from the sink.
“How much did you pay?”
Mom looked at him.
“Eight hundred.”
The number hit me before the meaning did.
Eight hundred dollars.
Dad had asked me for furnace money less than a month earlier.
Mom had stood beside me in the grocery aisle comparing prices on ground beef.
She had complained that prescriptions were getting expensive.
She had told me Christmas needed to be modest.
Eight hundred dollars had still existed.
It had simply not existed for the things I was expected to cover.
Dad’s face went slack.
“You said we couldn’t afford the furnace repair.”
Mom’s expression changed.
“I said things were tight.”
“You let Emily pay for it.”
“I didn’t let her.”
“Yes, you did.”
Mom looked at me.
I almost wished she had not.
“I was going to pay you back.”
“When?”
The question came out before I could stop it.
She flinched.
Vanessa stepped in.
“Can we stop making Mom the villain here?”
Dad turned on her.
“You stay out of this.”
That surprised everyone.
Dad rarely raised his voice.
He did not raise it now, exactly.
He simply used a tone that removed every ounce of softness from the room.
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“This trip was supposed to be nice.”
Dad stared at her.
“For who?”
Nobody answered.
Lily stood beside me clutching the handle of her suitcase.
Noah had lowered himself onto the floor and was rolling his dinosaur over one of the tiles.
The adults had managed to make an entire vacation around avoiding discomfort, and somehow the children were still standing in the middle of it.
I crouched beside Lily.
“Why don’t you take Noah upstairs and pick a movie?”
She looked at Vanessa.
Her mother nodded without meeting her eyes.
Lily led Noah away.
The second they disappeared, Brian spoke.
“I didn’t know Emily was paying for the furnace.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“Oh, come on.”
“I didn’t.”
“You knew money was tight.”
“That is not the same thing.”
She laughed once.
“So now you’re innocent?”
“No.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“But I’m not pretending this makes sense anymore.”
Vanessa’s expression sharpened.
“What doesn’t make sense?”
Brian looked at her.
“The trip.”
“You agreed to it.”
“I agreed because you said your mom wanted to treat us.”
Mom looked down.
Brian continued.
“You said the kids would stay with Emily because Emily offered.”
I felt something inside me go still.
Vanessa did not look at me.
Dad did.
Then Mom.
Brian’s voice dropped.
“She didn’t offer?”
“No,” I said.
He closed his eyes.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then he looked at Vanessa.
“You told me she did.”
Vanessa lifted her chin.
“I said she would.”
“No.”
Brian shook his head.
“You said she offered.”
“Same difference.”
“It is absolutely not the same difference.”
She folded her arms tighter.
“You knew she watches them.”
“I knew she helped.”
“She helps all the time.”
“Because we leave them with her.”
The words seemed to surprise him as much as anyone else.
Vanessa stared.
Brian looked toward the staircase.
“I thought she agreed.”
“You never asked me.”
He nodded slowly.
“I know that now.”
Vanessa’s voice became sharp.
“Oh, spare me the sudden conscience.”
Brian looked at her.
“You lied to me.”
“I simplified it.”
“You lied.”
Her cheeks flushed.
“Fine.”
She threw both hands out.
“I lied because everyone in this family makes everything impossible.”
Dad laughed under his breath.
It was not a pleasant sound.
“So this is our fault.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You’re getting close.”
Mom pressed fingers to her forehead.
“This has gotten completely out of hand.”
I looked at her.
“No, Mom.”
She lowered her hand.
“It was already out of hand.”
Vanessa turned toward me.
“You’re enjoying this.”
The accusation was so strange that I almost missed its purpose.
“What?”
“You finally get to be right.”
“I don’t feel right.”
“You love being the responsible one.”
I stared at her.
“You think I love this?”
“Yes.”
She was crying now, but angrily, wiping at tears before they could fall.
May you like
“You love having something over me.”
“I paid bills because nobody else did.”
