Chapter 3
Aunt Ruth drove behind us.
I watched her headlights through the back window while Dad kept both hands on the steering wheel. He hadn't turned on the radio. Usually, he would ask me about school on the way home from anywhere.
That night, he let the quiet sit between us.
At the first red light, he spoke.
“I'm sorry I asked why you didn't tell me.”
I looked up.
“You should have been able to tell me,” he said. “And I should have paid attention when you tried.”
I wanted to believe him. I also remembered every time Vanessa had spoken over me while he nodded and hurried back to work.
“I thought you'd believe her,” I said.
“You had good reason to think that.”
When we reached the house, Ruth parked beside the curb. Vanessa opened the front door before we got out.
“Could you have warned me your sister was coming?” she asked Dad.
“I told you on the phone.”
“You said you were calling her. I didn't know you were inviting her into our marriage.”
Ruth walked up the path.
“I'm here for Nia,” she said.
Vanessa stepped back, but her eyes followed Ruth all the way inside.
The kitchen sink was empty. The dishes had been put away, and the bucket was gone. For a moment, I wondered whether Dad would start to doubt what he'd seen.
He looked at my hands. Then he asked Ava where the bucket was.
“Mom put it in the garage.”
Dad nodded.
He asked Ruth to take us upstairs for dinner while he spoke with Vanessa. Ruth made sandwiches, and we ate in my room. Caleb and Ava followed her without being asked.
My room was at the back of the house. It had once been painted yellow by my mother, who died when I was six. There was still a small patch of yellow behind the dresser where I had asked Dad not to paint over it.
I sat on the bed. Ava sat close to me. Caleb leaned against the wall with his sandwich untouched.
“I shouldn't have dropped the popcorn,” he said again.
“No,” I replied.
“I knew Mom would make you pick it up.”
“That part made it worse.”
He nodded.
I hadn't expected an apology to fix anything. I wanted him to understand why it had hurt.
Aunt Ruth saw the list taped inside my closet door when she went to hang my coat. She read the first few lines.
“Is this your chore list?”
“For today.”
It was a long list. Vanessa had written living room, floors, laundry, kitchen, and downstairs bathroom. Beside each job was a small box for me to check.
Ruth took out her phone.
“May I photograph this?”
I nodded.
Caleb stared at the paper.
“I never saw the whole list.”
“It was on the fridge before,” I told him. “Then I asked why yours was shorter.”
“Mine has two things.”
“I know.”
Ruth photographed the list and left it in place. She said she wanted Dad to see it exactly where Vanessa had put it.
Downstairs, voices rose and fell. I couldn't make out every word.
I heard Dad say, “She is my daughter.”
Then Vanessa said something sharp enough to make Ava pull the blanket over her knees.
Ruth shut the bedroom door.
“You don't need to listen to them,” she told us.
But I did. Whatever they decided would change my life.
After a while, Dad came upstairs alone. He paused at the sight of all three of us in my room.
“Vanessa is going to stay with her sister tonight,” he said. “Caleb and Ava can stay here with me, or they can go with her. I'm not deciding that for them without talking to her.”
Ava gripped the blanket.
“Can we stay?”
Dad's face softened.
“Yes.”
Caleb asked, “Is Mom mad at me?”
“I think she's upset,” Dad said. “Her feelings are for her to handle. You told me something I needed to know.”
He turned to Ruth, who showed him the list. He read it once, then again.
“Were there other lists?”
“Most weekends you traveled,” I said.
Dad removed the paper from the closet door.
“I'll keep this,” he said. “It doesn't belong on your wall.”
A door closed downstairs. A few seconds later, a car started in the driveway.
Vanessa had gone.
I thought I'd feel free when she left. Instead, I felt the fear I'd been holding back all day.
“What if she comes back when you're at work?” I asked.
Dad sat in the chair beside my desk.
“She won't be here alone with you. Ruth is staying tonight. Tomorrow we'll talk through a plan together.”
“And when you travel?”
“I'm canceling the trip I have next week.”
“You can't cancel every trip.”
“No,” he said. “But I can change my job. I should have made changes when I first saw how much time I was away.”
Ruth went downstairs to call Dad's manager with him. Caleb took Ava to her room.
I stayed at my desk, staring at the space where the list had been.
Dad returned with a tube of cream from the clinic. He helped me put it on the cracks beside my knuckles, taking care when I pulled away.
“I need to tell you something else,” I said.
“You can.”
“Vanessa checks my phone after you call.”
He went still.
“She says she pays for it, so she can read everything.”
Dad looked at the phone on my desk. It was an old one he'd given me for my birthday.
“Have any messages disappeared?” he asked.
“I don't know. She sometimes takes it overnight.”
A knock sounded on the bedroom door.
Ava stood there holding my blue notebook. It was the one I used to write down things I didn't want to forget.
“Mom took this from Nia's drawer last week,” she said. “I found it in her bag before she left.”
My stomach dropped.
May you like
The notebook was open.
One page had been torn out.
