Chapter 5 - Maren Had Heard More Than Any of Us Knew
Maren sat through most of the conversation without speaking.
Then she said:
“I knew something was wrong.”
I turned.
“What?”
“Owen kept asking me if Mom could stop being our mom.”
My chest tightened.
“When?”
“Since Monday.”
She had asked him why.
Owen refused to explain.
So Maren watched.
She noticed Wade suddenly becoming unusually attentive to Owen.
Offering snacks.
Trying to take him to the putting green alone.
Asking whether he and I had “had any father-son talks lately.”
To adults, those questions might have sounded casual.
To Maren, they felt wrong.
Then she told me something else.
Two weeks earlier, she had seen Adrienne deleting messages when Wade entered the kitchen.
She asked her mother why.
Adrienne said:
“Planning surprise stuff.”
Maren believed her.
Why wouldn’t she?
Children begin by believing the people who raise them.
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The adults are the ones who decide how long that trust survives.
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