Chapter 12 - For Vanessa
The note was brief enough to fit in Evelyn's palm. Vanessa read it standing where the jacket had landed.
I know you are scared of being seen at your worst. So am I. I hope someday you'll understand that family isn't a photograph where everyone has to look perfect. It is who reaches for you after the photograph is over. I wanted to be one of those people for you. — Evelyn.
Vanessa sat abruptly in the empty chair. She read the note again, searching for a hidden insult, a clever final strike. There wasn't one. That somehow hurt more.
Her phone vibrated with messages from guests. What happened? Are you okay? Should we come back? She stared at the glowing screen and felt the familiar urge to answer with an edited version of the day. Marcus was too sensitive. Evelyn had provoked her. Everybody had misunderstood.
She typed: Marcus overreacted.
Then she deleted it.
Another message appeared, this one from a vendor asking whether the reception could proceed. Vanessa looked around at flowers chosen for photographs, at chairs rented to impress people who were already leaving. The perfect day was collapsing into invoices.
She dialed the venue office and requested a complete itemized statement. She would need to understand every dollar. She also asked what services could be canceled before they were used. A woman on the other end explained the terms without sympathy or judgment.
Vanessa wrote everything down. It was the first practical task she'd done all day that wasn't meant to improve appearances.
When the call ended, she opened her conversation with Evelyn. She saw every urgent demand she'd sent, every attempt to disguise pressure as love. Her face burned.
She began composing an apology, then erased the sentence Please tell Marcus you forgive me. That was another request for Evelyn to fix something.
May you like
Instead she wrote: I treated you cruelly. You did not deserve it. I will return your money, whether you forgive me or not.
Her thumb hovered over Send. Before she touched the screen, a new message from Marcus arrived: We need to talk about the account tonight.
