Chapter 4
Vanessa walked straight toward us.
“I heard you took the children to a bakery,” she said to Mrs. Carter. “No one told me why.”
“I called you this morning,” Mrs. Carter answered. “You didn’t pick up.”
Vanessa ignored her and looked at me.
“Noah, who is this man?”
I held Lily’s hand.
“Dad’s father.”
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed. “Daniel didn’t have anything to do with his father.”
Arthur stepped beside Mrs. Carter.
“That’s true,” he said. “I’m here because the children came looking for me.”
Vanessa glanced at Dad’s photograph in my hand.
“Daniel should have thrown that away.”
I put it behind my back.
Mrs. Carter told everyone to come inside rather than argue in the parking lot. I did not want Vanessa in our apartment, but she had Dad’s folder. I needed to know what was in it.
She sat at the table without taking off her coat.
“I came to discuss Daniel’s final expenses,” she said.
Mrs. Carter pulled out a chair across from her. “Did you pay something?”
“I handled calls. I spent time I didn’t have.”
“That wasn’t the question,” Arthur said.
Vanessa set the folder down.
She said Dad had left a small payment through work. She claimed it had been used for the funeral and hospital bills. Mrs. Carter asked to see the statements.
“I’m not going to be questioned by strangers,” Vanessa said.
“I’m Dad’s son,” I told her.
Her face changed for an instant. Then she smiled.
“Of course you are. That’s why I brought the folder.”
She slid it toward me. I opened it. There were forms I did not understand and a few bills marked paid. One page had a number far larger than any bill beneath it.
“Where did the rest go?” I asked.
Vanessa reached across the table.
“Let me explain it when you’re older.”
Arthur put his hand over the folder first.
“Noah asked a fair question.”
Vanessa leaned back. “Now I remember why Daniel stayed away from you.”
Arthur flinched.
I wanted him to defend Dad. I wanted her to stop speaking as if he were a story they could use against each other.
“Dad took care of us,” I said.
“I know he did,” Arthur answered.
Vanessa stood.
“He told me you accused him of stealing when he was seventeen. He slept in his truck because he wouldn’t go back to that house.”
Arthur’s face went pale.
“That’s not what happened.”
“Then tell his children your version.”
Lily started crying. Mrs. Carter took her to the living room. I stayed at the table.
Arthur looked at me.
“A deposit was missing from the bakery business. I was told Daniel had handled the bag. I asked him about it. He left before we could work it out.”
“Who told you?” I asked.
“Vanessa.”
The room went still.
Vanessa had known Arthur then. I looked at her.
“How?”
“I worked in the bakery office,” she said. “Your grandfather has never forgiven me for doing my job.”
Arthur turned toward her.
“You told me Daniel confessed to you.”
“He said he had the bag. You decided what that meant.”
I watched them. Their words did not match, but both remembered the same day. Dad had lost his home over it.
“Did anyone find the money?” I asked.
Vanessa picked up her purse. “It was a long time ago.”
She tried to take the folder. Mrs. Carter returned from the living room and stood beside the table.
“Leave it,” she said. “The caseworker can help make sure Noah gets copies.”
Vanessa looked at each of us. Her gaze stopped on the photograph.
“Daniel wanted you to find Arthur,” she told me. “He didn’t tell you what happened because he knew it would hurt.”
I waited for her to say something kind about Dad. She did not.
After she left, Arthur asked me whether I believed her.
“I believe Dad slept in his truck,” I said.
Arthur nodded slowly.
Mrs. Carter photographed the pages in the folder. She would call Ms. Lewis and ask who could help us understand them. Arthur offered to pay for a lawyer to review the bills and the payment, but Mrs. Carter insisted the lawyer speak for Lily and me, not just for him.
“I agree,” Arthur said.
I watched him leave. He looked smaller walking down the hallway than he had in the bakery.
That night, I found Dad’s old notebook under his bed. He wrote shopping lists, work hours, and reminders about Lily’s school. Near the back was a page dated two months before he died.
May you like
I stared at one line until the words became clear.
Ask Arthur about the missing deposit. Vanessa was there.
