Chương 8
“You said she was controlling.”
Daniel’s face drained.
“You said she always needed everything planned.”
I looked at Daniel.
Jason kept going.
“You said sometimes you went there because you needed somewhere quiet where nobody needed anything from you.”
Alyssa whispered, “Jason, stop.”
“No.”
He looked at me now.
“You want to know why we thought you were temporary?”
My mouth had gone dry.
“Yes.”
Jason’s eyes moved to his father.
“Because Dad acted like this house was something he had to survive.”
Daniel looked at me, but I couldn’t make myself look back.
The room had become too full of people and not nearly large enough for what had just been said.
Olivia stood beside Ethan with one hand on his shoulder.
Alyssa’s suitcase had tipped onto its side.
Melissa was staring at Daniel now with the expression of someone watching a private lie become public.
Jason bent to pick up his duffel bag, then stopped halfway.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Daniel said.
Nobody answered.
He tried again.
“I complained.”
Jason straightened.
“You complained a lot.”
“Adults complain.”
“Not like that.”
“Jason.”
“You said Rachel made everything complicated.”
My eyes finally moved to Daniel.
His face looked miserable.
Not innocent.
Not misunderstood.
Just caught.
“What did I make complicated?” I asked.
“Rachel, please.”
“No.”
I folded my arms because I needed somewhere to put my hands.
“What did I make complicated?”
He swallowed.
“Schedules.”
I waited.
“Money.”
I kept waiting.
“The kids.”
Melissa let out a slow breath.
Daniel shot her a warning look.
She ignored it.
“What about the kids?”
He shook his head.
“Not like they were a problem.”
Jason laughed.
“Dad.”
Daniel flinched.
Jason looked at me.
“He said there was always somebody needing something.”
I glanced at Olivia and Ethan.
They were both listening.
That mattered more than Daniel seemed to understand.
I walked to them.
“Go upstairs.”
Olivia shook her head.
“Mom.”
“Please.”
Her mouth tightened.
“I want to know what he said about us.”
“You don’t need to hear adults talk badly to understand what happened.”
“He wasn’t talking badly about us.”
Her voice broke.
“He was talking badly about you.”
That was worse.
I crouched in front of her.
“I’m going to handle this.”
“You always handle it.”
“I know.”
She wiped under one eye with the heel of her hand.
“That’s the problem.”
I had no answer for that.
Ethan leaned toward her.
“Come on.”
She looked at him.
He whispered something I couldn’t hear.
Then the two of them went upstairs together.
I waited until their bedroom doors closed.
Then I turned around.
“Continue.”
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
“Rachel, I don’t think this is helping.”
“Helping what?”
“Anything.”
“That is what you always say when the truth becomes inconvenient.”
He winced.
Melissa looked away.
Jason sat on the arm of the couch, suddenly less interested in leaving.
Alyssa lowered herself onto her suitcase.
Daniel remained standing near the door.
“I was overwhelmed,” he said.
“That is not the same as being trapped.”
“I didn’t say trapped.”
Jason’s eyes flicked toward him.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
Jason rubbed his palms against his jeans.
“You kind of did.”
“What did I say?”
“You said sometimes it felt like you couldn’t breathe in this house.”
Daniel went pale.
My stomach clenched.
He looked at me.
“I was angry that night.”
“Which night?”
He didn’t answer.
Jason did.
“The night Olivia got sick before the school concert.”
I remembered it immediately.
Olivia had thrown up twice that afternoon and developed a fever.
I stayed home with her while Daniel took Ethan and Alyssa to the concert because Alyssa’s choir was performing.
Jason had refused to go at the last minute.
Daniel came home frustrated because parking was awful, Ethan had spilled juice in the car, and Alyssa had been upset I missed her solo.
I had apologized for being absent.
That memory felt obscene now.
“You went to the condo afterward?” I asked.
Daniel nodded.
“Jason called.”
Jason frowned.
“No, you called me.”
Daniel looked at him.
There was a pause.
Then Daniel’s shoulders lowered.
“Right.”
That tiny correction hurt more than the larger revelations.
He had gone there because he wanted to.
He had not been summoned by a struggling teenager.
He had chosen the exit.
“What did you tell him?”
Daniel sat down on the couch.
“I don’t remember exactly.”
Jason stared at the floor.
“You said this house never shuts up.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“You said every day there was a crisis.”
I felt my face heat.
Jason continued.
“You said Rachel treated every little thing like a family meeting.”
“That was frustration.”
“You laughed when I said she should make an agenda.”
“I shouldn’t have.”
“No.”
Jason looked toward the staircase.
“You shouldn’t have.”
His voice had changed.
There was less accusation in it now.
More discomfort.
Maybe even the first edge of understanding.
Melissa sat in the dining chair.
“So you were validating everything they were bringing back to me.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You were doing the same thing.”
“I never pretended I wasn’t angry.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
Alyssa spoke without looking up.
“You both made it sound like we had to pick.”
Nobody responded.
She peeled another piece of plastic from the corner of her phone case.
“If we liked it here, Mom got quiet.”
Melissa’s face tightened.
“Alyssa.”
“You did.”
“I never told you not to like being here.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Melissa stared at her daughter.
Alyssa’s voice became smaller.
“If I said Rachel took me shopping, you’d ask what she bought me.”
“That’s a normal question.”
“No.”
Alyssa finally looked up.
“You’d ask in that voice.”
Melissa opened her mouth and stopped.
Alyssa looked at Daniel.
“And if I complained about Mom, you’d say I could stay here more.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“I was offering.”
“It felt like picking.”
Jason nodded once.
May you like
“Yeah.”
I stood between both parents and understood something I had been too busy surviving to see.
