Chương 9
Jason and Alyssa had been carrying messages back and forth for years.
Not formal messages.
Nothing anyone would admit to.
A sigh.
A sarcastic remark.
A financial complaint.
A look when somebody else’s name came up.
The children had absorbed all of it and built their own rules from the debris.
Protect Mom by rejecting Rachel.
Protect Dad by blaming Mom.
Protect both by never admitting the new family sometimes felt good.
And I had been standing in the middle, buying shoes.
“Why didn’t either of you tell me?” I asked.
Jason looked at me.
“Tell you what?”
“That you felt like liking me was betraying your mother.”
Melissa flinched.
Jason’s mouth tightened.
“I didn’t think you’d get it.”
“Did you ever try?”
“No.”
“Then why were you so sure?”
He shrugged.
I waited.
He looked at Daniel.
There it was again.
The answer in the direction of his eyes.
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“I told him not to dump adult stuff on you.”
I stared at him.
“What adult stuff?”
“His anger.”
“He was thirteen.”
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From your child?”
“From more conflict.”
“By creating a secret apartment where he could complain about me without me knowing?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
Jason muttered, “It kind of was.”
Daniel looked at him with genuine hurt.
Jason didn’t back down.
The power in the room shifted so quietly I almost missed it.
For years, Daniel had been the reasonable center.
Melissa was difficult.
Jason was adjusting.
Alyssa was sensitive.
I was overthinking.
Every problem had been gently renamed until nobody had to change.
Now his children were refusing the names.
Melissa leaned back in the chair.
“I want them with me tonight.”
Daniel looked at her.
“They can go.”
Jason blinked.
Melissa did too.
Daniel continued.
“But not because Rachel turned off subscriptions.”
His voice was tired, but steady.
“They’re going because this house needs space and because I’ve made a mess I should have dealt with years ago.”
Jason frowned.
“So you’re kicking us out.”
“No.”
“It sounds like it.”
“You were already leaving.”
“Because Mom came.”
“And I’m not stopping you.”
Jason stood.
“Great.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn every boundary into rejection.”
Jason froze.
Daniel’s voice softened.
“I taught you that.”
Nobody moved.
“I made this house sound like something I endured.”
He glanced at me.
“I made the condo sound like a refuge.”
His jaw tightened.
“That was wrong.”
Jason looked uncomfortable.
Daniel continued.
“And I let you treat Rachel like she had responsibilities toward you without authority over you.”
Melissa looked at him sharply.
“That part is between you and me.”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That part is between all of us.”
He pointed toward the table.
“She paid for that plane kit.”
I almost interrupted.
He kept going.
“She built it with Ethan.”
Jason’s face hardened defensively.
“I said I was sorry.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Jason opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
Daniel nodded toward the broken pieces.
“You called it stupid.”
“It is a toy.”
“It was his.”
Jason looked away.
Daniel let the silence remain.
That was new.
Normally, he would have rushed to fill it.
“You’re replacing it,” Daniel said.
Jason’s eyes snapped back.
“With what money?”
“Yours.”
“I don’t have enough.”
“Then you’ll earn it.”
“How?”
“We’ll figure that out.”
Jason laughed bitterly.
“So Rachel gets what she wants.”
I spoke before Daniel could.
“No.”
Jason looked at me.
“I don’t want a replacement.”
He frowned.
“Then what do you want?”
The question came out almost hostile, but there was something real beneath it.
I looked at the airplane.
“I want Ethan to decide.”
Jason stared at me.
“If he wants it repaired, you help repair it.”
He shifted.
“If he wants you to replace it, you replace it.”
“And if he doesn’t want anything?”
“Then you live with the fact that breaking it cost him something you can’t restore.”
Jason’s eyes dropped.
For once, nobody rescued him from that.
Alyssa stood and pulled up the handle of her suitcase.
“Are we still leaving?”
Melissa looked at Daniel.
“Yes.”
Daniel nodded.
“For tonight.”
Melissa gave him a sharp look.
“I’m not promising tomorrow.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
“You know the schedule.”
“I know.”
“I’m not bringing them back if they don’t want to come.”
“That’s not solely your decision.”
She stiffened.
Daniel exhaled.
“We’re not doing this now.”
Melissa seemed ready to argue.
Then Alyssa whispered, “Please.”
That one word ended it.
Melissa picked up Alyssa’s suitcase.
Jason shouldered his duffel bag.
At the door, he stopped.
His eyes moved toward me.
“Is my phone actually getting shut off?”
“Yes.”
He looked irritated.
Then uncertain.
“What if Mom needs to reach me?”
Melissa answered before I could.
“I’ll put you on my plan.”
Jason nodded.
The simplicity of the solution seemed to bother him.
He had expected the canceled phone to be punishment.
Instead, it was merely responsibility moving back to a parent.
Alyssa looked at me.
“Mine too?”
“Yes.”
She bit her lip.
“What about the streaming stuff?”
“Canceled.”
“All of it?”
“The accounts I pay for.”
She looked genuinely shocked.
Then embarrassed by being shocked.
“Oh.”
Melissa opened the front door.
Cooler night air drifted inside.
Jason stepped onto the porch.
Then he turned back.
“Rachel.”
I waited.
He glanced toward the staircase.
“I shouldn’t have said Ethan wasn’t family.”
The apology was incomplete.
Awkward.
Probably partly motivated by the terrible evening he had just survived.
It was also the first one he had offered without being ordered to.
I nodded.
“No.”
He swallowed.
“He is.”
I could have made the moment easier.
I could have told him it was okay.
It wasn’t.
“Tell him that when you mean it.”
Jason nodded once.
Then he left.
Alyssa followed Melissa outside, but paused beside me.
“I didn’t ruin Olivia’s markers on purpose.”
I stared at her.
May you like
She looked terrified now.
“I left the caps off because I was mad at her.”
