Chương 5
“Don’t make Grandma go to jail.”
He stared at her.
“Why do you think she’s going to jail?”
“Noah said evidence is for jail.”
Daniel made a mental note to discuss legal television with his son.
“No one is deciding anything like that right now.”
“She’s mean.”
“Yes.”
“But she’s old.”
“She’s sixty-one.”
Sophie shrugged as if that settled it.
Daniel touched the top of her backpack.
“You don’t have to protect Grandma from consequences.”
“I’m not.”
“Okay.”
“I just don’t want jail on my birthday.”
Daniel had no useful response.
He kissed her forehead.
“Go to class.”
At eleven thirty, Marisol called.
“Ben’s attorney says he didn’t ask for the school schedule.”
Daniel sat back from his computer.
“Do you believe her?”
“I believe she has a client saying he didn’t ask for it.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No. It wasn’t.”
Daniel looked through the glass wall of his office at two employees arguing cheerfully over a shipping label.
“What did he say?”
“That Margaret contacted him about six weeks ago.”
Daniel’s mouth went dry.
“Before he contacted me?”
“No. After.”
“What did she tell him?”
“We don’t have all of it. His attorney says Margaret claimed you were planning to move Sophie out of state and cut off any future contact.”
“I’m not.”
“I know.”
“She knows that.”
“Probably.”
“What else?”
“She offered to pay his travel expenses if he came here.”
Daniel stood.
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why?”
“She apparently told him you were using the guardianship to erase Rachel’s side of Sophie’s family.”
Daniel laughed once.
“My mother is not Rachel’s side of the family.”
“I’m aware.”
“She barely tolerated Rachel.”
“I’m aware of that too.”
He walked to the window.
“Does Ben want custody?”
“No.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“His attorney says no.”
“Then what does he want?”
“Contact.”
“He disappeared for five years.”
“Yes.”
“He sends one email and suddenly everyone gets to rearrange Sophie’s life?”
“No.”
“Then why does this feel like that?”
Marisol paused.
“Because you’re scared.”
Daniel said nothing.
“She also said Ben is willing to speak with us directly.”
“With lawyers?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
Daniel stared out at the parking lot.
A delivery truck backed toward the warehouse, beeping every few seconds.
“I don’t want to see him.”
“I didn’t ask what you wanted.”
That irritated him.
Marisol knew it would.
“What would you advise?”
“I’d advise you to hear what he says.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother is betting that you and Ben will hate each other enough to behave stupidly.”
Daniel leaned his forehead against the glass.
“She may know me pretty well.”
“That’s generally why family members are dangerous.”
The meeting took place Tuesday afternoon in Marisol’s conference room.
Ben Halpern arrived seven minutes early.
Daniel had not seen him since Rachel’s funeral.
He expected deterioration. Some visible evidence that the years had punished him.
Instead Ben looked ordinary.
That was worse.
He was thirty-six now, leaner than Daniel remembered, with thinning hair at the temples and a dark green work jacket folded over one arm. There was a small scar near his chin. He drank coffee from a paper cup and kept rotating it so the printed logo faced away from him.
Daniel disliked him immediately.
He also disliked himself for being disappointed that Ben looked healthy.
Ben’s attorney, Alicia Grant, sat beside him.
Marisol handled the first ten minutes.
Nobody mentioned birthdays.
Nobody mentioned torn documents.
They discussed the existing guardianship order, the prior agreement, Ben’s treatment records and the recommendation that any reintroduction be gradual and therapist-guided.
Then Daniel put Noah’s video on the table.
“Did you ask my mother for Sophie’s school schedule?”
Ben looked at the tablet.
“No.”
“Did she send it?”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s hands tightened.
“When?”
“Friday night.”
“The day before the party.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Ben looked at Alicia.
She did not rescue him.
“I should have.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I didn’t know what to do with it.”
“You forward it to your attorney.”
“I know.”
“You tell me.”
“I know.”
“You don’t keep an eight-year-old’s pickup schedule sitting in your phone.”
Ben’s face tightened.
“I deleted it.”
“After when?”
Alicia raised one hand.
“Daniel.”
“No. I want an answer.”
Ben looked directly at him.
“Sunday morning.”
Daniel leaned back.
“So you had it all weekend.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“It’s the answer.”
“You expect me to believe you kept my daughter’s school schedule because you were confused?”
Ben’s eyes changed.
“Your daughter.”
Daniel stared at him.
Ben looked down at the coffee.
“That’s what I mean.”
“No, say it.”
Alicia shifted in her chair.
Ben shook his head.
“I’m not here to fight you.”
“You flew across the country after my mother paid for it.”
“I paid for the flight.”
“She offered?”
“Yes.”
“How much else has she offered?”
“Hotel.”
“Legal fees?”
“No.”
“Money?”
Ben rubbed his thumb along the cup seam.
“Five thousand dollars.”
Daniel felt Marisol glance at him.
“For what?”
“To help me get established here.”
“Established doing what?”
“Being close enough to see Sophie.”
“You took it?”
“No.”
Daniel waited.
“I almost did.”
That answer, irritatingly, sounded true.
“Why?”
Ben stared at the table.
“Because I have twelve hundred dollars in checking, a car that makes a noise every time I turn left, and a daughter who probably thinks I’m a photograph.”
Nobody spoke for a moment.
Daniel looked away first.
Ben continued.
“Margaret told me you were moving to Portland.”
“I’m not.”
“I know that now.”
“She told you I was leaving?”
“She said you had a job offer.”
Daniel looked at Marisol.
He did have an offer.
He had never considered taking it.
Six months earlier, a larger logistics company in Oregon had offered to buy his small distribution business and retain him as regional operations director.
He had told three people.
His accountant.
Rob.
His mother.
“Anything else?” Daniel asked.
May you like
Ben nodded reluctantly.
“She said you were going to adopt Sophie and make sure I never saw her again.”
