Chapter 4 - Two Bags at the Door
I went downstairs with the brass key in my pocket. Mom was rubbing Dad's back while telling him, loudly, that his blood pressure would be my fault.
"The two of you are leaving," I said.
Her hand stopped moving. "Excuse me?"
"Tonight. I'll book a hotel while your house is being repaired. I'll pay for the room. But you're not staying here."
"This is your father's home, too."
"No," I said. "It's mine and Emily's."
Mom laughed like I'd told a bad joke. "Your wife has you trained. One little misunderstanding and you throw out your parents."
"It wasn't a misunderstanding. I watched you grab her hair."
"Then maybe you should have married someone who can take correction."
I went to the guest room and carried their bags into the hall. Mom followed, calling me ungrateful. Dad stood behind her like a man waiting for a bus he wasn't sure would come.
"Frank," I said, "do you have everything you need? Medication? Phone charger?"
Dad nodded. Then Mom said, "He doesn't need you questioning him like a child."
I opened the front door. "You can call the hotel from the car."
She planted her feet. "I can tell this whole town what kind of son you are."
"You can tell them whatever you want."
Her expression changed. She leaned close enough that I could smell the lemon soap on her hands.
"Ask him what happened to Nora," she whispered. "Ask your father why your sister stopped coming home."
Nora was nine years older than me. She'd left at seventeen, called less and less, and stopped attending family holidays after Mom accused her of stealing a gold bracelet. I'd believed Mom. So had everyone else.
"What does Nora have to do with this?"
Mom smiled. "That's the trouble with suddenly wanting the truth, honey. You don't get to choose which parts of it hurt."
They finally walked out. I locked the door, then stood there shaking while their taillights disappeared.
Upstairs, I heard Emily moving the blue suitcase across our bedroom floor.
May you like
I took out my phone and called the sister I hadn't spoken to in nearly two years. She answered on the first ring.
"I was wondering when you'd finally call," Nora said. "Mom already called me. And Daniel, whatever she told you about that bracelet, it was a lie."
