Chapter 2
Dad lifted the phone out of Vanessa’s reach.
“Don’t touch it.”
She stopped with her hand still raised.
For one moment, she looked exactly as frightened as I felt.
Then the agent repeated the name.
“Darren Knox.”
Isaiah stood up.
Kendra whispered, “Dad?”
I looked at her.
Not my father.
Hers.
Darren was Vanessa’s former husband. He was Isaiah and Kendra’s father, and he had not visited our house in almost a year.
Dad looked between them.
“Why is Darren’s card attached to our vacation?”
Vanessa lowered her hand.
“He helped arrange the tickets.”
“You told me you booked directly.”
“I did. Mostly.”
Dad thanked the agent and asked for written confirmation of the cancellation and the payment details available to him. He ended the call without raising his voice.
That frightened me more than shouting would have.
He placed the phone on the table.
“Explain.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Darren works with a travel service now. He got us a better rate.”
“And I paid you for five tickets.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you cancel my daughter’s?”
“She didn’t need to come.”
The words came out before Vanessa could soften them.
I looked at Dad.
His eyes closed briefly.
When he opened them, he was staring at her.
“She’s my daughter.”
“I know that.”
“You just said she didn’t need to come.”
“I meant the trip would be easier without another child to supervise.”
I let go of the basket.
“I’m not another child.”
Vanessa turned toward me.
“Don’t interrupt.”
Dad stepped beside me.
“She can speak.”
I could hardly breathe.
For months, I had wanted him to say those words before a conversation ended. He usually heard the cleaned-up version afterward, when Vanessa had already decided who was reasonable.
Tonight he was here.
He had heard it himself.
Isaiah moved toward the table.
“Mom, you said Maya wanted to stay with Simone.”
I stared at him.
“I didn’t.”
He looked stunned.
“She said you were nervous about flying.”
“I’ve been talking about this trip since February.”
Kendra put her ticket down.
“You told me Marcus knew.”
Vanessa glanced at her.
“Your father and I discussed several possibilities.”
“No,” Dad said. “We discussed a vacation for all five of us.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
“You’re turning this into an interrogation.”
“I’m asking where the money went and why my daughter was told to stay alone.”
“She wouldn’t have been alone.”
Dad went still.
“Who was staying with her?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Nora from next door could check in.”
“That is not staying with her.”
“She’s fifteen.”
“She is fifteen,” he repeated. “Which means an adult should have made a safe plan before telling her she was abandoned in her own home.”
I looked down.
Abandoned.
I had been trying not to use that word even inside my head.
Dad noticed.
He touched my shoulder.
“You are coming with me,” he said quietly. “Wherever we decide to go.”
I nodded because I could not answer.
Then he asked Vanessa again about the refund.
She said Darren would send the money back.
Dad asked whether she had already told him to.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“He has expenses.”
Dad stared at her.
“You gave him the refund?”
“It wasn’t much.”
“How much?”
She named an amount close to the entire cost of my ticket.
My swimsuit upstairs suddenly seemed foolish.
The dress.
The packing list.
All the little things I had done because I believed I was wanted.
Dad picked up the torn sleeve.
“Why tear this?”
“I was clearing papers.”
“With Maya’s name on it.”
“It was canceled.”
“That is why I’m asking.”
Vanessa looked away.
Dad took a breath.
“I need a few minutes with Maya.”
She started to protest.
He did not argue.
He simply guided me into the kitchen and shut the living room door behind us.
I stood near the counter.
He crouched slightly so I did not have to look up at him.
“Did she tell you before tonight?”
“No.”
“Did you know Darren was involved?”
“No.”
“Have you been worried about the trip?”
I laughed once, bitterly.
“I thought I was finally going to be in the pictures.”
Dad’s face changed.
“What do you mean?”
I shook my head.
It was too much. If I began telling him everything, I was afraid I would sound as if I had saved complaints for the perfect moment.
He waited.
Then he said, “You don’t have to make it smaller for me.”
I covered my face.
“I thought if I worked harder, she’d want me there.”
He pulled me close.
I cried against his sweater.
For once, nobody told me I was making a scene.
When I could breathe again, Dad said, “You never had to earn a place in this family.”
“Then why does it keep feeling like I do?”
He did not offer a quick answer.
“I need to understand that,” he said.
We returned to the living room together.
Vanessa stood beside the hallway.
Her handbag was on the console, partly open. A thick cream envelope protruded from it.
Dad stopped.
My name was printed on the front.
May you like
Beneath it was the name of a residential school two states away.
I had never applied there.
