Chương 7
The cruelty of those words was so clean that I almost admired their efficiency.
“He hated that I tried?”
“He thought you were replacing Melissa.”
“I never tried to replace her.”
“I know.”
“Did you tell him that?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell him to stop accepting things from me if he resented me for providing them?”
Daniel looked away.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I thought it would pass.”
There it was again.
Daniel’s religion.
Time would fix what courage refused to touch.
Upstairs, a bedroom door opened.
Jason came down carrying a duffel bag.
Alyssa followed with a backpack and a small rolling suitcase.
Jason stopped when he saw all three adults standing around the kitchen.
His eyes went immediately to Daniel.
“You told her?”
I looked at him.
“So you knew I didn’t know.”
Jason’s shoulders stiffened.
Alyssa froze behind him.
Daniel stepped forward.
“This is between me and Rachel.”
Jason’s mouth twisted.
“Everything is always between you and Rachel.”
The sentence landed differently now.
Not as teenage sarcasm.
As evidence.
Melissa said his name softly.
“Jason.”
He ignored her.
“You said the condo was ours.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“I said it was a place we could use.”
“You said it was for us.”
“No.”
“You did.”
“I said Grandma bought it so family could stay there.”
“That’s not what you made it sound like.”
Alyssa gripped the handle of her suitcase.
“You said we wouldn’t have to deal with everybody there.”
Daniel’s face changed.
I felt my stomach drop.
“Everybody,” I said.
Neither teenager looked at me.
“Who is everybody?”
Jason stared at his shoes.
Alyssa started crying again.
“Us,” Olivia said from the hallway.
We all turned.
She stood near the bottom of the stairs in her pajamas.
Ethan was behind her.
I had not heard them come down.
Olivia looked at Daniel.
“You mean us.”
“Liv, go upstairs.”
“No.”
“Olivia,” I said gently.
She looked at me.
Her eyes were wet, but her voice was steady.
“They don’t like us.”
Alyssa whispered, “That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“You say we’re annoying all the time.”
“Sometimes you are.”
“Alyssa,” Melissa warned.
“What?”
Alyssa wiped her face.
“They are.”
Olivia’s chin trembled.
I walked toward her, but she backed away.
“I don’t want you to make it better.”
That stopped me.
She looked at me with an expression far too old for ten.
“You always make it better and then they just do it again.”
Ethan stared at the floor.
Jason looked uncomfortable now.
Actually uncomfortable.
Not angry.
Not defensive.
He glanced at the broken airplane on the table.
Then at Ethan.
For one second, shame flickered across his face.
It disappeared when Melissa touched his shoulder.
“We’re leaving.”
Daniel stepped in front of the door.
“No.”
Jason’s jaw tightened.
“Move.”
“Not until we talk.”
“I don’t want to talk.”
“You don’t get to destroy something belonging to an eight-year-old and walk out because the conversation is unpleasant.”
Melissa moved closer.
“He can face consequences at my house.”
Daniel looked at her.
“This happened here.”
“He’s still my son.”
“And mine.”
“Then maybe you should have been acting like his father instead of sneaking him off to a condo whenever parenting got uncomfortable.”
Daniel flinched.
Jason’s face went red.
“Stop talking about me like I’m some problem.”
Everyone went quiet.
He dropped the duffel bag.
“I didn’t ask Dad to get the condo.”
“You asked to stay there,” Melissa said.
“Because you two never stop.”
“Never stop what?” Daniel asked.
“This.”
Jason gestured between them.
“Fighting about money and schedules and who did what and who ruined whose life.”
Melissa’s face hardened.
“I have never said your father ruined my life.”
Jason laughed.
“You say it without saying it.”
Alyssa whispered, “He’s right.”
Melissa looked at her.
Alyssa immediately stared at the floor.
Jason turned toward Daniel.
“And every time we came here, Rachel was doing all this family stuff.”
I felt something in my chest contract.
“What family stuff?”
He looked at me, irritated that I had asked.
“Dinner.”
I blinked.
“Dinner?”
“And game nights and birthdays and taking pictures and making everybody go places.”
“I thought you liked some of those things.”
“I did.”
That answer came too fast.
Jason looked away.
I understood then that liking them had been part of the problem.
He had enjoyed something he believed loyalty required him to reject.
Daniel stepped closer to him.
“Jason, why didn’t you tell me that?”
“I did.”
“No, you said it felt crowded.”
“Because when I said anything else, you told me Rachel was trying.”
The accusation landed squarely.
Daniel’s shoulders dropped.
Jason’s voice became rougher.
“So then I felt like an asshole for being mad.”
I almost said something.
I stopped myself.
For once, I let him have the discomfort without trying to rescue him from it.
Jason rubbed his eyes with both hands.
“Mom said I didn’t have to pretend.”
Melissa stiffened.
I looked at her.
“Pretend what?”
“That this was our family.”
The room went silent again.
Melissa’s face showed the first genuine fear I had seen all evening.
“Jason, that is not what I said.”
“You said Dad made a replacement family.”
“I said it felt like he had moved on quickly.”
“You said Rachel wanted us around because it made her feel like she won.”
Melissa closed her eyes.
Alyssa stared at her mother.
Daniel looked like someone had struck him.
I felt strangely calm.
“So that’s where it came from.”
Melissa opened her eyes.
“I was angry.”
“How old was he?”
She didn’t answer.
Daniel did.
“Thirteen.”
Melissa turned toward him.
“You said worse about me.”
“Not to the kids.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Jason kicked his duffel bag.
“Can everybody stop pretending this is all Mom?”
Daniel looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Jason gave a short, bitter laugh.
“It means you complain about Rachel too.”
My stomach tightened.
Daniel went still.
Jason saw it.
“You do.”
“When?”
May you like
“In the condo.”
“What did I say?”
