Chapter 15 - A House With a Leaking Roof
Marcus spent that night at his mother's house. Rain tapped the roof after midnight, and the familiar leak started above the hall closet. He set a bowl beneath it, then another. Evelyn stood in the doorway wearing slippers and the turquoise dress she'd been too tired to change.
"You're not sleeping in that suit," she said.
"Wasn't planning on it."
"I still have one of your old T-shirts."
"You keep everything."
"Not everything." She looked toward the silver-green jacket hanging on the back of a chair. "Some things we lose."
He found the shirt in a drawer and changed. When he came back, Evelyn was holding a towel against a drip.
"Sit down," he said, taking it from her.
"You sound like your father."
"That's a compliment, right?"
"On his better days."
They worked side by side without speaking for a while. The house smelled of rain and old wood. Marcus remembered being twelve and sleeping through storms because he assumed adults could fix anything. Now he knew how many storms his mother had faced with no help at all.
"I should've seen what was happening," he said.
Evelyn sat on the edge of the hallway bench. "You saw it when it mattered."
"After she hurt you."
"You can't stop every hurt before it happens."
"I thought I knew who Vanessa was."
"Maybe you knew parts of her. Maybe she hid parts from herself."
Marcus looked at the water gathering in the bowl. "Do you want me to leave her?"
Evelyn answered so slowly he had time to regret asking. "I want you to choose a life where you can tell the truth and still feel safe. I won't choose the person for you."
May you like
His phone lit up with Vanessa's name. He let it ring. A message followed: I found something in the bills that changes the refund amount. Please call.
Marcus looked from the screen to the leaking ceiling. For the first time all day, he wondered whether the disaster might still have one more hidden layer.
