Chapter 9 - LINDA’S HOUSE
Linda stopped speaking to Chloe for twelve days.
They lived in the same city.
That was unprecedented.
Chloe called.
Linda did not answer.
Chloe came to the house.
Linda did not open the door.
Emma finally asked:
“Are you trying to punish her?”
Linda looked offended.
“No.”
“Then?”
“I don’t know what to say.”
They were sitting at Linda’s kitchen table.
Same table where both daughters had done homework.
Where Chloe once cried because Emma got a better SAT score.
Where Emma once covered for Chloe after she came home drunk at seventeen.
Linda stared at her hands.
“I keep thinking about every holiday.”
Emma knew.
Four Christmases.
Four Thanksgivings.
Four birthdays.
Chloe sitting across from Adam.
Passing potatoes.
Holding nieces and nephews belonging to cousins.
Standing beside Emma for family photographs.
Linda whispered:
“How does someone do that?”
Emma said:
“One decision at a time.”
Linda looked at her.
Emma had learned that from Grace.
Affairs look incomprehensible when viewed as four years.
Viewed as individual decisions, they become uglier but simpler.
Answer a message.
Delete a text.
Lie about where you are.
Book a hotel.
Hug your sister.
Go again.
Repeat.
Linda began crying.
“I raised her.”
Emma reached across the table.
“This isn’t your fault.”
Linda looked at her.
“Some of it is.”
Emma frowned.
“What?”
“I protected Chloe too much.”
The answer surprised her.
Linda continued.
“When you were little, you were easier.”
Emma almost laughed.
“Everyone says that like it was a compliment.”
“It wasn’t.”
Linda wiped her face.
“You took consequences.”
“Chloe didn’t.”
“No.”
“If she forgot homework, I drove it to school.”
“Yes.”
“If she overspent, you covered it.”
“Yes.”
“If she fought with friends, they were jealous.”
Linda closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Emma leaned back.
“You didn’t make her sleep with Adam.”
“No.”
“But you taught her discomfort was an emergency.”
Linda cried harder.
That was the most honest conversation they had ever had.
Later, Linda called Chloe.
Not to forgive.
To speak.
She said:
“I love you.”
Chloe started sobbing.
Then Linda added:
May you like
“But I will not help you escape what you did.”
For once, love and rescue became separate things.
