Chapter 10 - Laura Had Tried to End the Arrangement Before I Did
My accountability became unavoidable when Laura showed me:
her texts.
She had kept them because she and Margaret argued often.
Six weeks before the fire:
LAURA: Emma says she doesn’t want to be alone with you. We need a break.
MARGARET: She says that because you reward disrespect.
Then my text to:
Laura.
ME: Don’t blow this up. I’ll talk to Mom.
There.
Clue one.
Four weeks before:
LAURA: We need after-school care. I’m serious.
ME: That’s $600 a month for something Mom does free.
Clue two.
Money.
Not unaffordable.
Just:
inconvenient.
Two weeks before:
Laura wrote:
She’s getting scared when your mom walks in. That is not normal.
My answer:
Mom was hard on me too. I survived.
I stared at that sentence for:
minutes.
Then showed it to:
Emma’s therapist.
She said:
“Survival isn’t the same as safety.”
Exactly.
There was more.
The week before the fire, Emma asked:
“Daddy, if Grandma locks me in the glass room, can I break the window?”
I remember laughing.
“Why would Grandma lock you in?”
Emma said:
“She does.”
I looked toward Margaret, who was in:
the kitchen.
She answered before Emma could continue.
“She means time-out.”
I accepted:
Margaret’s interpretation.
Not:
Emma’s words.
That became clue four.
I had been trained my whole life to believe my mother’s version was the:
official version.
Even when another person was standing directly in front of me saying:
something else.
The fire ended that habit.
Too late.
May you like
But not permanently too late.
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