Tessa’s obedience was part of it.
The fake grocery story was part of it.
The second phone existed because I wasn’t supposed to see any of those pieces together.
I finally asked the question that had been sitting underneath everything else.
“Who is R?”
She took a long breath.
“Someone I’ve been seeing.”
I felt the answer land, but not the way I would have expected before that day.
If I had discovered the affair first, maybe that would have been the center of the story.
It wasn’t anymore.
“Does he know Tessa is nine?”
She looked up quickly.
That hesitation told me almost enough.
“He knows she’s my daughter.”
“And he told you to leave the kids with her anyway.”
“I made my own decisions. Don’t put this all on him.”
For the first time since she had walked through the door, she said something I completely agreed with.
