Chương 6
Laura looked at the table.
“I believe she was frightened.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I wasn’t inside her mind.”
Claire made a disgusted sound.
Laura snapped, “And neither were you.”
“No,” Claire said. “I was forty minutes away because your husband made sure we all learned not to visit without permission.”
“Stop blaming him for everything.”
“What should I save for you?”
Simone ended the meeting five minutes later.
Laura stood by the front door, gathering her folder. Papers slid out and scattered across the floor. Mara bent automatically to help. So did Laura.
Their hands reached the same insurance card.
For a second, they remained crouched together.
Laura whispered, “I am trying to keep this from getting worse.”
Mara held the card between two fingers. “It’s already worse.”
“It can become much worse.”
“For him?”
“For all of us.”
Mara looked at the bruise near her mother’s jaw.
“Did he do that?”
Laura stood too quickly. “I told Claire what happened.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
Laura placed the papers back into the folder. “You’re becoming very comfortable interrogating me.”
“You’re becoming very comfortable not answering.”
Laura’s face changed then. Not anger exactly. Fear wrapped in authority.
“Your father may lose his job,” she said. “We may lose the house. Your brother may be pulled out of school. You may have to change schools. There could be court hearings. People will talk. You think telling every ugly detail fixes what happened, but it does not. It creates consequences you cannot control.”
Mara stood.
“You sound like him.”
Laura flinched again.
Mara wished she could take it back. She did not.
At school on Monday, people already knew.
No official announcement had been made. The police report was not public in any form her classmates would likely have seen. But Mrs. Keating had watched from across the street, and Mrs. Keating’s daughter volunteered with the high school booster club. By second period, Mara heard that her father had been arrested for beating Eli unconscious. By lunch, someone said Mara had stabbed him.
Her friend Tessa cornered her near the gym.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“People are saying—”
“I know.”
“What actually happened?”
Mara opened her locker. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay.”
Tessa remained there.
Mara put her history book inside. “You’re still standing here.”
“I don’t know whether leaving looks rude.”
“It does.”
Tessa nodded. “Good to know.”
She walked away, then came back two steps later. “Coach said you can skip practice.”
“I’m not skipping.”
“Mara.”
“I said I’m fine.”
“You also just put your lunch in your locker.”
Mara looked down. Her paper bag sat on top of her books.
Tessa took it out and handed it to her without comment.
At practice, Mara missed easy passes. Coach Ellis called her over after she kicked the ball across the sideline for the third time.
“You don’t have to be here.”
“I know.”
“You also don’t have to prove anything by being here.”
“I’m not.”
Coach Ellis waited.
Mara wiped sweat from her upper lip. “Can I go back in?”
“Yes.”
That was all. Mara appreciated her for not turning the moment into a lesson.
After practice, a man stood near the parking lot in a brown jacket. Mara recognized Uncle Mark before he raised a hand.
She stopped.
Mark looked like Daniel with less weight and more care in his clothes. He managed a building-supply store and spoke in the calm, patient tone of someone accustomed to customers accusing him of ruining their kitchens.
“Mara, I just want a minute.”
She took out her phone.
“I’m not violating anything. I’m not here for your dad.”
“You’re here because he sent you.”
“No.”
“Then leave.”
Mark glanced toward other students. “Can we not do this in front of everyone?”
“You came to my school.”
He lowered his voice. “Your dad is scared. He’s not sleeping. He knows he lost control.”
“Did he tell you to say that?”
“He’s not allowed to contact you.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Mark rubbed the bridge of his nose. “He asked me to make sure you understand he never meant to hurt Eli.”
Mara began recording.
Mark saw the phone. “Come on.”
“You just said you weren’t here for him.”
“I’m trying to keep this family from destroying itself.”
“He came at us with a belt.”
“He was angry. He made a terrible choice. You also kicked him into a table.”
Mara stared at him.
“I’m not saying you’re equally responsible.”
“You came to my school to tell me I’m responsible.”
“I came to say there are adults handling this now. You don’t need to keep pushing.”
“Pushing what?”
“The worst possible version.”
Mara held the phone higher. “Say that again.”
Mark stepped back. “You’re acting like him.”
The comparison struck with the precision of something chosen.
Mark saw that it landed. Regret crossed his face, but he did not apologize.
He turned and walked toward the parking lot.
Mara sent the recording to Simone before she could reconsider.
That evening, Daniel’s attorney contacted the agency to claim Mark had approached Mara independently. Mark stopped answering Simone’s calls. The no-contact conditions were reviewed, and Mark was warned that further attempts to relay messages could create additional problems.
Claire listened while Mara described the encounter.
“You did the right thing recording him,” she said.
“It didn’t feel right.”
“Most useful things don’t.”
“That sounds like something printed on a mug.”
Claire opened the refrigerator. “I own several bad mugs. None say that.”
Mara sat at the kitchen table. June and Eli were in the backyard drawing with sidewalk chalk. Eli had not used colored pencils since the incident.
“Uncle Mark said Dad was scared.”
“I’m sure he is.”
“Does that matter?”
Claire took out a carton of eggs, checked the date, and put it back. “It matters because he’s human. It doesn’t erase what he did.”
May you like
“Mom thinks it should.”
“Your mother thinks fear is an excuse because she’s been using hers as one for years.”
