Chapter 3
I stood in the living room long after Denise slammed the front door.
Her last words wouldn't leave my head.
Ask Maya why she stopped inviting her friends over.
For months, I'd noticed my daughter's world getting smaller.
She used to bring classmates home after school.
They watched movies in the basement.
They baked cookies.
They laughed loudly enough that I could hear them from my office.
Then, sometime during the previous winter, the visits stopped.
When I asked why, Maya said everyone was busy.
I believed her.
Now I wondered whether something else had happened.
Tasha was still standing beside the packed suitcases.
Her face was pale.
I looked at her.
"Tasha, come sit down."
She hesitated.
I softened my voice.
"You're not in trouble."
She sat on the couch.
I took the chair across from her.
For five years, I'd tried to treat Tasha like my own daughter.
I attended her school events.
I helped her learn to drive.
I opened a college savings account for her.
I never wanted her to feel like an outsider.
Now I wondered whether Denise had been telling both girls a different story.
"Tasha, did your mother say something to Maya's friends?"
She looked down.
"I don't know everything."
"Tell me what you do know."
Her eyes filled.
"Mom didn't like them coming over."
I felt my stomach tighten.
"Why?"
"She said they were noisy."
I frowned.
"That's normal. They're teenagers."
Tasha nodded.
"I know."
She twisted her fingers.
"One day, Maya brought her friend Olivia home."
I remembered Olivia.
She was a sweet girl who lived two streets away.
"What happened?"
Tasha swallowed.
"Mom told Olivia that Maya wasn't allowed to invite people without permission."
I frowned.
"That doesn't sound unusual."
Tasha looked up.
"Then she said Maya wasn't really in charge of anything in this house."
My chest tightened.
"What?"
Tasha continued.
"She told Olivia that Maya only lived here because you insisted."
I felt sick.
"She said that?"
Tasha nodded.
"In front of Maya."
I stared at the floor.
I imagined my daughter standing beside her friend.
Humiliated.
Embarrassed.
Trying not to cry.
"Did Maya say anything?"
Tasha shook her head.
"She just apologized."
I closed my eyes.
Of course she did.
Maya always apologized.
Even when she hadn't done anything wrong.
Tasha began crying.
"I'm sorry, Marcus."
I looked up.
"For what?"
"I should have told you."
I moved beside her.
"You're seventeen. This wasn't your responsibility."
She wiped her cheeks.
"I knew it was wrong."
I nodded.
"And you spoke up today."
She looked at me.
"I'm scared Mom's going to hate me."
My heart tightened.
I placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Your mother's feelings are not yours to manage."
She began crying harder.
I hugged her.
And for the first time, I realized both girls had been living under pressure I hadn't understood.
After Tasha went to her room, I climbed the stairs.
Maya's bedroom door was closed.
I knocked gently.
"Baby?"
No answer.
I waited.
"Maya, it's Dad."
I heard movement.
Then her voice.
"Come in."
I opened the door.
She sat on her bed hugging an old stuffed rabbit.
Angela had bought that rabbit when Maya was four.
Its ears were worn.
One eye had been repaired twice.
Maya kept it beside her pillow.
Seeing her holding it again made my chest ache.
I sat beside her.
"How are you feeling?"
She shrugged.
"Okay."
I looked at her swollen eyes.
"Sweetheart, you don't have to tell me you're okay."
Her lip trembled.
I took her hand.
"I know about Olivia."
Maya froze.
"What?"
"Tasha told me what Denise said."
Her face changed.
She looked down.
"Oh."
I waited.
Then she whispered, "It wasn't a big deal."
My heart broke.
"Maya."
She shrugged again.
"Olivia understood."
I gently lifted her chin.
"That doesn't make it okay."
Tears filled her eyes.
She looked away.
"I didn't want you and Denise fighting."
I swallowed.
"How long have you been protecting me from things?"
She didn't answer.
I waited.
Finally, she whispered, "A while."
I felt sick.
"Can you tell me?"
Her eyes filled.
"Promise you won't get mad?"
I took her hand.
"I won't be angry with you."
She nodded slowly.
Then she began telling me things I wished I'd noticed sooner.
Denise had stopped including her in family photographs.
She had criticized Maya's clothes.
She had complained whenever I spent time alone with my daughter.
She had told Maya not to talk about Angela during family dinners.
My chest tightened.
"She said that?"
Maya nodded.
"She said it made Tasha uncomfortable."
I stared at her.
"Did Tasha say that?"
Maya shook her head.
"No."
I swallowed.
Maya continued.
"Last Christmas, I wanted to put Mom's ornament on the tree."
I remembered the ornament.
A small silver angel with Angela's name engraved on the back.
Maya had hung it every Christmas since her mother died.
"Denise told me it didn't match the decorations."
I felt my chest ache.
"What happened to it?"
Maya looked toward her closet.
"I put it away."
I closed my eyes.
I'd noticed the ornament was missing.
I assumed Maya had forgotten it.
I never asked.
That realization hurt.
I looked at my daughter.
"I'm sorry."
She shook her head.
"Dad, you didn't know."
I swallowed.
"I should have."
Her eyes filled.
I pulled her into my arms.
She held me tightly.
Then whispered something that shattered me.
"Sometimes I thought you loved your new family more."
I couldn't breathe.
I pulled back.
"Maya."
She wiped her cheeks.
"I know it's stupid."
"No."
I held her face gently.
"Never call your feelings stupid."
She started crying.
I kissed her forehead.
"You are my daughter."
My voice broke.
"Nothing and nobody will ever change that."
She clung to me.
We stayed that way for a long time.
Then she whispered, "Dad?"
"Yes?"
"Can I ask something?"
"Anything."
She looked frightened.
"Are you going to make me apologize to Denise?"
I stared at her.
"Why would you apologize?"
Maya swallowed.
"Because she said I ruined the vacation."
I felt anger rise.
But I kept my voice calm.
"No, sweetheart."
I wiped her tears.
"You didn't ruin anything."
Then she reached into her bedside drawer.
She pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"I was going to give you this after the trip."
I opened it.
It was a handwritten letter.
At the top, Maya had written:
Dad, I think I should move out after graduation.
My chest tightened.
I looked at her.
"Why?"
Her voice trembled.
"Because I don't think Denise wants me here."
May you like
Then she whispered the words I'd feared most.
"And I don't want you to have to choose between us."
