Chapter 18 - Practice Crying
The video was worse because Caleb was trying to please her.
Simone stood behind Tasha’s phone, apparently unaware she was being recorded.
“Again,” Simone said.
Caleb rubbed his eyes.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. Think about when your hamster died.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Caleb.”
His face tightened.
Then he forced himself to cry.
Simone said, “Good. Now say, ‘Nia pushed me.’”
Caleb whispered it.
“Louder.”
“Nia pushed me.”
Marcus paused the video.
He could not watch more.
Tasha sat across from him at the kitchen table.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“You were sixteen.”
“Fifteen then.”
“That makes it worse, not better.”
She looked down.
“Simone said nobody would believe me. Then she accused me of stealing cash and told my mom she’d call the police if I came back.”
Marcus remembered the missing cash.
Two hundred dollars.
He had replaced it and never thought about it again.
“How did she get you here the other night?”
“She said she wanted to apologize. Then she told me to sign a paper.”
Marcus nodded.
“Thank you for coming.”
The new video was turned over to the investigator.
Caleb was not shown it.
Neither was Nia.
Some truths belonged in evidence before they belonged in children’s minds.
A week later, Evan’s independent test came back clean.
His supervised visits began.
The first time Caleb saw him, he stood behind Marcus.
Evan did not rush him.
He sat at the other end of the family center room and said, “Hey, buddy.”
Caleb whispered, “Hi.”
That was all.
It was enough.
Afterward, Evan and Marcus stood in the parking lot.
“I don’t expect you to like me,” Evan said.
“I don’t know you.”
“Fair.”
“I also don’t forgive you for meeting Simone behind my back.”
“Fair.”
“But Caleb deserves a father who shows up.”
Evan nodded.
“So show up.”
“I will.”
Marcus walked away.
His phone buzzed before he reached the car.
A voicemail from Simone.
Her first contact in days.
He played it.
“Marcus, I know you won’t believe this, but I’m getting help. Real help. I’m not asking you to take me back. I just need you to know there’s something in the house that belongs to Nia. Something Alicia left. I never destroyed it.”
Marcus stopped.
The message continued.
“It’s under the loose floorboard in the guest-room closet.”
He drove home.
Nia stayed with Denise while he checked.
Under the floorboard was a metal box.
Inside were Alicia’s wedding ring, three photographs, and a sealed envelope.
May you like
On the front, Alicia had written:
For Nia, when she starts thinking my leaving was her fault.
