Chương 6
Dennis answered after six rings.
“Is Mom there?” Andrew asked.
“No.”
“Where is she?”
“At Sabrina’s.”
“Did you know Hannah got separated from Mom at the mall in December?”
Silence.
“Dad?”
“I heard something about her wandering off.”
“She was seven.”
“I know how old she was.”
“Did Mom tell us?”
“I assumed she did.”
“You assumed.”
Dennis sighed. “Andrew, I’m not going to get in the middle of this.”
“You were standing behind her on Main Street.”
“That is not the middle?”
“I’m not doing this with you.”
“You already did.”
Dennis lowered his voice. “Your mother made a mistake.”
“She made several.”
“She thought the seating area was safe.”
“Then why did she tell Jenna Hannah was with her?”
Another silence.
“Dad.”
“I don’t know exactly what she texted.”
“You were there. Did Mom go back to the chairs for her bag?”
Dennis did not answer.
Andrew looked at Jenna across the kitchen. She could hear the faint rasp of his father’s breathing through the phone.
“Did she see Hannah?” Andrew asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
“Your mother was under a lot of pressure.”
“To get Carter to a float.”
“You don’t have children in programs like that, so maybe you don’t understand.”
Andrew’s face emptied.
Jenna reached for his wrist, but he stepped away.
“I have a child,” he said.
Dennis exhaled. “That’s not what I meant.”
“It is exactly what you meant.”
He ended the call.
For the rest of the night, Andrew did not say much. He repaired a loose hinge on the pantry door and tightened it until the wood began to split. Jenna took the screwdriver from him.
“Go sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are destroying a cabinet.”
He looked at the crack beside the hinge.
“Right.”
They sat on the back steps while mosquitoes gathered near the porch light. Somewhere down the street, a lawn mower started, stopped, and started again.
“My dad has always done that,” Andrew said.
“What?”
“Said the ugly thing, then acted like the injury came from how you heard it.”
Jenna tucked one foot beneath her. “You do it sometimes.”
He glanced at her.
“Not like him,” she added. “But enough.”
Andrew looked out at the yard.
“Why did you marry me?”
The question was so unexpected that Jenna almost laughed. “Because you carried a six-year-old through an airport after she threw up on your shoes.”
“That’s your standard?”
“It was persuasive.”
He smiled, then pressed his palms over his face.
“I kept waiting for my parents to catch up,” he said. “I thought if they had enough Christmas mornings, enough birthdays, enough regular Sundays, they’d stop seeing Hannah as an addition.”
“They didn’t.”
“No.”
Jenna leaned against his shoulder.
The neighborhood mower finally caught and settled into a steady hum.
Two days later, Sabrina arrived at their house without warning.
Jenna saw the red floral sundress through the glass before opening the door. It was the same dress from the parade. Sabrina wore sunglasses over her eyes this time and held her phone in one hand.
“Hannah’s not here,” Jenna said.
“I know. She’s at camp.”
The fact that Sabrina knew made Jenna’s skin prickle. Camp schedules were not secret, but the casual certainty felt intrusive.
“What do you want?”
“To talk without Andrew turning it into a trial.”
“Andrew’s at work.”
“I know.”
Jenna did not invite her inside. Sabrina looked toward the neighbor’s driveway and lowered her voice.
“Mom is barely functioning.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Not particularly.”
Sabrina pushed her sunglasses onto her head. Her eyes were bloodshot, though whether from crying or lack of sleep Jenna could not tell.
“She made a bad decision,” Sabrina said. “Fine. She should have walked Hannah back herself. But you are making it sound like she tied her to a bench and left the state.”
“She lied about where Hannah was.”
“She assumed Hannah stayed at the chairs.”
“She went back for her handbag.”
Sabrina’s mouth tightened.
“You know that part,” Jenna said.
“I know Mom took her bag.”
“And saw Hannah?”
“I wasn’t standing with her every second.”
“Dennis was.”
“Dad doesn’t remember.”
“That’s convenient.”
Sabrina glanced at the closed door behind Jenna. “Can we not do this on the porch?”
“No.”
“Of course.”
The word carried years inside it: Jenna was difficult, Jenna was sensitive, Jenna did not understand their family, Jenna had arrived with a child and expectations.
Sabrina shifted her phone to the other hand. “Carter heard Andrew say the family was done. He thinks Uncle Andrew doesn’t love him anymore.”
“That’s not true.”
“He’s nine. He doesn’t understand your technical distinctions.”
“Then explain that Andrew was speaking to the adults.”
“Oh, I did. I also had to explain why police called Mom.”
“That was a predictable consequence.”
Sabrina stared at her. “Listen to yourself.”
“I am.”
“You think because you use a calm voice, you’re not being cruel.”
Jenna almost answered quickly. Instead she let the silence remain.
Sabrina continued. “Mom has spent years including Hannah.”
“Sometimes.”
“She buys her gifts.”
“Yes.”
“She takes her places.”
“Yes.”
“She calls herself Grandma.”
“Usually when other people can hear.”
Sabrina’s face changed.
The line had gone farther than Jenna intended, but she did not take it back.
“You’ve always wanted to believe she rejects Hannah,” Sabrina said.
“No. I wanted the opposite badly enough that I ignored evidence.”
“That sounds very polished.”
“It isn’t. It feels terrible.”
For a moment, something uncertain passed through Sabrina’s expression. Then it closed.
“Drop the report,” she said.
“There it is.”
“Nothing criminal happened.”
“You don’t get to decide that.”
“Neither do you.”
“I know.”
Sabrina stepped closer. “Mom could lose her volunteer position at the library if this gets around.”
“Has anyone contacted the library?”
“No.”
“Then you are asking me to protect her from a consequence that does not exist yet by erasing what happened to Hannah.”
May you like
“I’m asking you not to destroy a woman over one mistake.”
“It wasn’t one mistake.”
