For a long moment, she just stood there holding the torn flap of cardboard, staring down into the box like it had spoken to her.
My father stepped forward. He was sixty-four, soft-spoken, a retired high school shop teacher who had spent most of his marriage letting my mother handle "the house stuff" and "the family stuff," which in practice meant everything. He picked up the email and adjusted his reading glasses.
I watched him read it.
I watched him get to Derek's line. Just make sure Naomi is out before the kids arrive. I don't want her ruining the vibe.
I watched him get to my mother's reply. Once she's finally out, this house can feel like family again. It will finally be ours.
His hand started to shake, just slightly. He read it again.
"Linda," he said. "What is this?"
"It's a private conversation," my mother said, snatching at the paper. He held on to it. "She had no right to go through my email."
"It's the household account," I said. "The one you set up so I could pay the utilities. The one I've logged into every month for three years to pay the gas bill, the water bill, and the internet. You gave me the password, Mom."
Derek had gone pale. He set the booster seat down on the porch.
"Naomi," he said. "That's not—I didn't mean it like—"
"Like what?" I asked. And I genuinely wanted to know. I wanted someone in this family to explain to me what else those words could possibly mean.
He opened his mouth, and nothing came out.
Maddie tugged on her father's sleeve. "Dad, what's a vibe?"
Theo, who had discovered the dog-shaped doorstop, wasn't listening at all.
I knelt down so I was at eye level with my niece. She had Derek's nose and her mother's serious gray eyes, and the last time I'd seen her, she'd been small enough to ride on my shoulders at the county fair.
"Hey, Maddie," I said softly. "I want you to know something, okay? None of this is because of you or Theo. Not one little bit. The grown-ups made some grown-up mistakes, and we're going to have to fix them. But you two are always, always welcome wherever I am. Got it?"
She studied me the way kids do when they're deciding whether to believe you.
