Chapter 19 - One Year Later
Thanksgiving returned.
I had dreaded the date for months.
We did not go to the Peterson brownstone.
Instead, we hosted dinner at our house.
Zoe came.
Erin and her children came.
Carol came for dessert.
Frank did not.
His choice.
Megan did not.
Our choice.
At four-thirty, Lily stood on a chair helping Mark arrange rolls.
“Not too close to the edge,” he said.
“I know.”
She moved them approximately half an inch.
I laughed.
Mark rolled his eyes.
The house smelled like sage and butter.
Music played.
Nobody was walking on eggshells.
Nobody’s mood controlled the room.
At dinner, Lily asked for the plain piece of pie.
I froze.
So did Mark.
She had no idea.
Zoe did.
Her eyes met mine.
Mark quietly handed Lily the plain slice.
“Here you go.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
“That’s it?”
He gasped theatrically.
“No twenty-minute debate?”
Lily giggled.
“No.”
“Excellent.”
Under the table, his hand found mine.
After dessert, Carol asked whether she could speak with me.
We stepped onto the porch.
The same cold.
Different house.
Different year.
“I brought something.”
She handed me an envelope.
Inside was the old behavior chart.
The one with Lily’s red marks.
Q.R.
Quiet room.
I stared.
“Why do you have this?”
“I kept it because part of me still thought you exaggerated everything.”
My chest tightened.
Carol continued.
“Then I realized keeping it was like keeping proof of a version of myself I didn’t want to admit existed.”
She looked toward the kitchen window.
Lily was laughing.
“I thought you should decide what happens to it.”
I tore it in half.
Then again.
Then dropped the pieces into the recycling bin.
Carol smiled through tears.
“Fair.”
Before she left, she hugged me.
May you like
She asked first.
That mattered too.
