“Then why do you want to see her?”
“Because everybody else has memories!”
Mia was crying now.
“I don’t have any. I have everybody telling me what happened to me.”
Leo’s anger vanished.
Mia wiped her cheeks.
“I just want one thing that’s mine.”
I understood.
So I arranged the meeting through the lawyers.
Supervised.
Neutral office.
Mara warned me not to expect closure.
“I don’t expect anything from Chloe anymore.”
“That may be true for you,” she said. “It isn’t true for Mia.”
The meeting lasted thirty-seven minutes.
I know because I watched the clock.
When Mia came out, Chloe followed several steps behind her.
Chloe had been crying.
Mia had not.
I stood.
Mia walked straight to me.
“Can we go home?”
“Yes.”
Chloe said, “Mia.”
Mia stopped.
Chloe reached into her purse.
“I brought something.”
She held out a bracelet.
Silver.
Small charms hanging from it.
Mia looked at the bracelet.
Then at Chloe.
“You don’t know what I like.”
Chloe’s face collapsed.
“I can learn.”
Mia was quiet.
“Why didn’t you before?”
Nobody moved.
Chloe glanced at me.
That was the moment I saw it happen again.
Pain becoming blame.
She could not answer her daughter.
So she looked for me.
“What has he told you?”
Mia frowned.
“What?”
“What did Kevin tell you about me?”
Mia stepped closer to my side.
I said, “Don’t.”
Chloe pointed at me.
“You did this.”
I wanted to scream.
Instead I heard my own voice become frighteningly calm.
“No, Chloe.”
“You made them hate me.”
“I spent twelve years making sure they survived you.”
Her lawyer appeared from the conference room.
“Mr. Hayes, I think that’s enough.”
Chloe stared at me.
“You always wanted to be better than me.”
“No.”
“You always looked down on me.”
“No.”
“You took my children.”
That one broke through.
I stepped forward.
“You left them on my porch.”
The entire hallway went silent.
Chloe’s lips parted.
“You said one hour.”
