Chương 6
Daniel felt a pulse in his jaw.
“That part is closer.”
Ben looked at him.
“I figured.”
“Are you objecting?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You’ve had five years to decide whether you want to be her father.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to arrive now and say you don’t know.”
Ben’s face went red.
“That’s exactly what I get to say.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No, you get to say you failed. You get to say you’re sorry. You get to show records and collect sobriety chips and tell everybody you’re different. You do not get to make her live inside your uncertainty.”
Ben’s chair scraped softly against the floor.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“I don’t know what you know.”
“I know I left.”
“Good.”
“I know Rachel called me sixteen times one week and I answered twice.”
Daniel went still.
“I know Sophie had pneumonia when she was three and I learned about it six months later because I changed my number and didn’t tell anyone. I know I showed up at Rachel’s funeral and couldn’t walk through a door.”
Ben’s voice had not risen.
That made the words harder to dismiss.
“I know she calls you Dad.”
Daniel said nothing.
Ben picked at the paper cup seam until it opened.
“I’m not asking her to call me anything.”
“Then what are you asking?”
“To meet her when her therapist thinks she’s ready.”
“And after that?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel nearly stood.
Marisol touched his sleeve once.
He stopped.
Ben looked exhausted.
“I can lie to you if you want. I can tell you I have a five-year parenting plan and a bedroom painted her favorite color and a college fund and all the right answers. I don’t. I have a warehouse job in Tucson, an apartment with one bedroom, twenty-two months sober, and a lot of things I should have done.”
Daniel looked at the tabletop.
Alicia spoke for the first time in several minutes.
“My client is not filing for custody.”
“Today,” Daniel said.
“Correct. Today.”
At least she was honest.
“What about the guardianship?”
“He is not challenging the current order.”
Daniel looked at Ben.
“And adoption?”
Ben’s mouth tightened.
“I’m not ready to sign anything.”
There it was.
Daniel stood.
The meeting ended three minutes later.
In the parking garage, Marisol caught up with him.
“You handled that badly.”
Daniel kept walking.
“I’m paying you to lie to me more politely.”
“No, you’re paying me to make sure your anger doesn’t become Sophie’s legal strategy.”
He stopped beside his truck.
“He had her schedule for two days.”
“Yes.”
“He knew Rachel was calling and ignored her.”
“Yes.”
“He disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“And now he gets time.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
Daniel opened the truck door.
Marisol rested one hand on the roof.
“Do you know what your problem is?”
“I assume you’ll tell me.”
“You want Ben to be dangerous.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Excuse me?”
“If he’s dangerous, your choices are simple.”
“He is dangerous.”
“Maybe. We investigate that.”
“He abandoned her.”
“That makes him unreliable. It makes him harmful in ways that matter. It does not automatically make him a present physical danger.”
Daniel looked away.
“You want one category called bad,” Marisol said, “because then you don’t have to decide what to do with a man who failed catastrophically and may still be capable of doing better.”
“That sounds like something from a greeting card.”
“It’s not. Greeting cards are cheaper.”
He almost smiled.
Almost.
She stepped back.
“Talk to Sophie’s therapist.”
Daniel got into the truck.
“And Daniel?”
He looked at her.
“Your mother knew exactly what button she was pushing.”
He closed the door.
That evening Claire came over.
Daniel’s sister brought a casserole nobody wanted and Margaret’s version of events nobody had asked for.
She stood in the kitchen while Daniel rinsed plates.
“Mom says you’ve cut her off completely.”
“I have.”
“She says you threatened legal action.”
“I said my lawyer would contact her if necessary.”
“She says you turned Noah against her.”
Daniel set a plate in the dishwasher.
“Did she mention ripping Sophie’s court order in half?”
Claire folded her arms.
“She said it was a copy.”
“So?”
“So the way you told it, I thought she destroyed the legal document.”
“No. She only wanted Sophie to think she had.”
Claire looked uncomfortable.
“That’s not what Mom said.”
“What did she say?”
“That Sophie knew it was symbolic.”
Daniel stared at her.
“She’s eight.”
“I’m not defending it.”
“You arrived with a casserole and her talking points.”
“I brought the casserole because Rob’s wife said you’d been eating birthday food for three days.”
Daniel looked at the foil-covered dish.
“That’s fair.”
Claire rubbed her forehead.
“This is insane.”
“Yes.”
“What about the video?”
“What video?”
“Mom said Noah secretly recorded her.”
Daniel leaned against the sink.
“He was filming the party.”
“She wants him to delete it.”
“No.”
“Okay.”
“She gave Ben Sophie’s school schedule.”
Claire’s expression changed.
“What?”
“She didn’t tell you that?”
“No.”
Daniel took the tablet from a drawer and played the relevant section.
Claire watched once.
Then again.
On the screen, Margaret’s voice was faint but clear.
“He has Monday’s dismissal time. If he gets one conversation with her without Daniel hovering, she’ll understand she has another family.”
Claire lowered the tablet.
“Oh.”
Daniel waited.
Claire sat at the table.
“She told me Ben found the school online.”
“Apparently not.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I know.”
They were quiet.
Claire peeled a corner of foil from the casserole and looked inside.
“What even is this?”
Daniel glanced over.
“Chicken, maybe.”
“It looks beige.”
“Mom’s entire cooking philosophy is beige.”
Claire laughed unexpectedly.
Then covered her mouth.
Daniel laughed too.
For ten seconds they were children again, sitting at Margaret’s table while she served casseroles that appeared to have been invented before color photography.
Then Claire’s face closed.
“Why would she do this?”
May you like
Daniel pulled out a chair.
“She thinks Sophie is ruining Noah’s life.”
