Chapter 2 - THE AFTERMATH IN THE DRIVEWAY
The drive home was completely silent.
Noah sat in his booster seat in the back, staring out the window at the passing suburban trees, his small hands holding tightly onto the armrests. Lily sat in the passenger seat, her hands still shaking as she stared at her phone screen, which was flooded with incoming text messages from aunts, uncles, and cousins.
DAVID: Marissa, please answer. Mom is hysterics. Dad walked off down the street.
SARAH: Lily shouldn't have recorded her. That wasn't fair. We need to talk as a family.
MARK: Can we just move past this? It's Dad's birthday.
Lily flipped her phone face down on the console, letting out a long, shaky breath. "Are you mad at me, Mom?"
I reached across the console and squeezed her wrist tight. "Mad at you? Lily, you were the braves person at that table today. You protected your brother when I was too stunned to move."
"I’ve had that recording for three days," Lily admitted, her voice dropping to a whisper. "She invited me over on Thursday under the pretense of giving me old clothes. Then she started talking about Noah. She said if I helped her convince you to leave him with a sitter for Dad's birthday, she'd buy me the car I wanted for graduation."
My jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched in my cheek. "She tried to bribe you to exclude your own brother?"
"Yeah," Lily said, wiping a tear from her eye. "I knew if I just told you, Grandma would deny it. She’d say I misinterpreted her, or that I was being dramatic. She’s done that my whole life whenever I tried to call her out. So... I turned on my voice memo app. I wanted you to hear the truth."
"You did the right thing," I said fiercely. "I'm just sorry you had to carry that weight for three days."
From the backseat, a quiet, hesitant voice broke through our conversation.
"Mom?"
I looked into the rearview mirror. Noah’s dark eyes were wide, staring at me.
"Yes, baby?" I said gently.
"Am I... am I weird?" he asked softly, pulling at the thread on his Triceratops shirt. "Is that why Grandma doesn't like me?"
My heart shattered into a million pieces right there on Highway 14. I pulled the car over into the parking lot of an empty public park, shifted into park, and unbuckled my seatbelt. I climbed into the back seat and pulled Noah onto my lap, holding his head against my chest.
"Noah, listen to me very carefully," I said, looking into his eyes. "You are smart. You are kind. You are gentle. You are the sweetest boy in the world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you."
"Grandma said I change the atmosphere," he whispered, his small voice breaking.
"Your grandmother is wrong," Lily said, turning around in her seat to take his small hand. "Grandma has a small heart, Noah. She only likes people who act exactly the way she wants them to act. That's her flaw, not yours. You make our lives wonderful."
"Really?" Noah murmured, looking between his sister and me.
"Really," I promised him, kissing his forehead. "And from now on, we are only going to places where you are loved and celebrated. Exactly as you are."
He buried his face into my shoulder, his small body relaxing for the first time all day.
My phone rang in the cup holder. The caller ID displayed Dad.
I hesitated before answering, pulling the phone to my ear. "Dad?"
"Marissa," my father’s voice came through the speaker. He was breathing heavily, the sound of passing cars in the background. "Where are you?"
"I'm taking the kids home, Dad."
"I left the house," my father said, his voice trembling with raw emotion. "I walked out. David tried to stop me, but I told him if he supported his mother on this, he wasn't the man I raised him to be."
I sat up straight. "Dad, where are you?"
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"I'm at the gas station on the corner of Elm Street," he said quietly. "Marissa... can I come to your house? I can't stay under the same roof as Evelyn tonight. Not after what I heard."
"Of course, Dad," I said immediately. "Stay right there. I'm coming to pick you up."
