“I’m not asking you to.”
Rebecca looked at me carefully.
“But legally you could.”
“Peter says the agreement allows ninety days.”
Daniel gave a humorless laugh.
“That doesn’t make it much easier.”
“No.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Why didn’t you tell us before you moved?”
“Because I didn’t remember.”
“And if you had?”
I considered it.
“I still would have moved.”
His face tightened.
“But you might have warned us.”
“Yes.”
That was true.
He looked surprised by my answer.
I had no interest in pretending I had behaved perfectly simply because I had been hurt first.
“I should have told you I was leaving before I hired movers,” I said. “I made that decision while I was angry.”
“You didn’t seem angry on the phone.”
“I was.”
Rebecca looked at the folder.
“You were hurt.”
“Yes.”
She nodded slowly.
For the first time since I arrived, something in her expression changed.
The defensiveness faded.
“I’m sorry about Hawaii.”
Daniel glanced toward her.
Rebecca continued.
“Not because you moved out. Not because of the loan. I’m sorry because we should have asked you.”
I had imagined an apology many times over the previous days.
In all of them, I felt immediate relief.
Reality was different.
“I appreciate that.”
She looked disappointed.
Perhaps she had expected forgiveness to arrive faster.
Perhaps I had too.
Daniel said, “I’m sorry too.”
“I know.”
“No, Mom. I mean it.”
“I believe you.”
“Then why does it feel like you’re still angry?”
“Because an apology does not erase four years in ten seconds.”
He looked down.
The room became quiet.
Finally Rebecca spoke.
“You heard me.”
I looked at her.
“On the patio.”
For one moment, none of us moved.
Daniel turned toward his wife.
“What?”
Rebecca’s face had gone pale.
“She heard me talking to Claire.”
My heart beat faster.
Daniel looked between us.
“What did you say?”
Rebecca closed her eyes briefly.
Then she looked at me.
“That we couldn’t ask you to leave because you watched the kids, bought groceries, paid for things.”
For illustration purposes only
Daniel stared at her.
“And?”
Her voice became very soft.
