Chương 5
“I’m building an accurate wall. Whether you like the wall is not the current issue.”
Megan leaned back.
“Daniel left rehab six weeks after he woke up.”
“Yes.”
“He vanished.”
“Yes.”
“Nobody has seen him in seven months.”
“Not that we know of.”
“I have had to make every decision alone since then.”
Patricia closed her notebook.
“That is important.”
“Doesn’t sound important when you say it.”
“It is important, and it still does not create Daniel’s signature.”
There it was.
The wall.
Megan looked away.
Patricia continued. “We file a correction. We disclose that the document is not authentic. We request an immediate temporary parenting arrangement because Daniel remains absent and Lily needs stability. Eleanor and Thomas may ask for their own protections.”
“They’re grandparents.”
“They have been significant caregivers during Daniel’s absence.”
“Because I let them.”
“That will matter too.”
Megan crossed her arms.
“Eleanor will say I’m unstable.”
“Are you?”
“No.”
“You tried to leave town with a false custody document.”
Megan’s eyes burned.
Patricia did not soften her voice.
“Do not make me say only things that feel good to you. You hired me because you were afraid everyone around you was telling you what they thought you wanted to hear.”
“That was before you knew I was a criminal.”
Patricia’s expression changed slightly.
“You are not a legal conclusion.”
Megan looked at her.
“You did something serious. That is not the same as me deciding what you are.”
Megan swallowed.
For some reason, that was what nearly made her cry.
She did not.
At noon, Milwaukee Human Resources called.
The position was front-office manager at a multi-location dental practice, better paid than anything Megan had found locally in two years.
She answered from her parked car.
The recruiter asked whether she was still arriving over the weekend.
Megan watched a man across the street struggle to fit a boxed microwave into the trunk of a compact sedan.
“No,” she said.
A pause.
“Is there a travel issue?”
“A family issue.”
“Will you be available Monday?”
“I don’t know.”
Another pause, longer this time.
The recruiter’s voice remained polite.
“We need someone to start as scheduled.”
“I understand.”
“We can give you until tomorrow morning to confirm.”
“Thank you.”
When the call ended, Megan rested her forehead against the steering wheel.
A year earlier she would have called Daniel.
He would have complained about the recruiter’s tone.
Then he would have told her to take the job.
Then, five minutes later, he would have explained why taking the job was impossible.
Daniel had been gifted at supporting two opposite positions with equal conviction.
She missed that suddenly.
Not enough to romanticize him.
Just enough to hurt.
Her phone buzzed.
A photograph from Thomas.
Lily at the dining room table, cutting poster board for her science project.
The poster board was green.
Megan had promised blue.
She zoomed in on Lily’s face.
Lily was not smiling.
Thomas followed with a message.
She picked green. Says blue is boring.
Megan typed, She loves blue.
Then deleted it.
People were allowed to change their minds while you were gone.
She wrote, Tell her green looks good.
That evening Eleanor called.
Megan almost ignored it.
She answered on the sixth ring.
“What?”
Eleanor said, “Lily wants clothes.”
“I’ll bring them.”
“No.”
Megan gripped the phone.
“No?”
“Leave a bag on the porch.”
“You don’t get to decide I can’t see my daughter.”
“I get to decide you are not coming into my house tonight.”
“Then send Thomas out.”
Silence.
Megan could hear a television faintly behind Eleanor.
“Eleanor.”
“She asked not to see you tonight.”
That stopped her.
“You’re lying.”
“I am not.”
“Put her on.”
“She doesn’t want to talk.”
“Put her on the phone.”
“No.”
Megan stood so fast the kitchen chair scraped backward.
“You don’t keep her from me.”
“And you don’t put her on a bus with a forged document.”
There it was.
The same fight, ready to run forever.
Megan squeezed her eyes shut.
Patricia had said no negotiation.
No escalation.
No more making it worse.
“Ask Lily if she wants her purple pajamas,” Megan said.
Eleanor went quiet.
“What?”
“Her purple pajamas. The ones with the moons. Ask her.”
A muffled conversation followed.
Then Eleanor returned.
“She said yes.”
“Her toothbrush is in the side pocket of the duffel. She likes the mint toothpaste now, not bubblegum.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know everything.”
“I didn’t say I did.”
Megan sat down again.
“I’ll bring the bag.”
“Leave it on the porch.”
“Fine.”
Before Eleanor could hang up, Megan said, “Did Daniel really never wake that day?”
Eleanor’s breathing changed.
“May fourteenth?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“All day?”
“All day.”
“You’re sure?”
“I was there.”
“What time did you leave?”
“Ten at night.”
“And Thomas?”
“Most of the afternoon.”
Megan stared at the forged date.
“Why that day?” Eleanor asked.
Megan said nothing.
“Why did you choose May fourteenth?”
“Because he said he’d sign it that week.”
Eleanor gave a sharp, disbelieving breath.
“He said he’d read it.”
Megan’s fingers went cold.
“How do you know that?”
“Daniel called Thomas from the truck the night before the crash.”
Megan stood again.
“What did he say?”
“Ask Thomas.”
“No. You brought it up. You tell me.”
Eleanor was silent.
“What did Daniel say?”
“He said you were trying to move.”
“That isn’t news.”
“He said he didn’t know what to do.”
Megan waited.
“And?”
“And nothing.”
“Eleanor.”
“He told Thomas he thought maybe Milwaukee would be better for Lily for a while.”
Megan stopped breathing.
The kitchen became very quiet.
“What?”
“He was confused.”
“That’s not what you just said.”
“He was angry. He was tired. He had been working too much.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You remember every hour he spent in a coma, but you don’t remember this?”
“That was different.”
“Of course it was.”
“Megan.”
May you like
“What did he say?”
Eleanor’s voice hardened. “It does not matter. He did not sign your paper.”
