Chapter 8
Karen refused to meet at her house.
She refused to meet at mine.
She chose a coffee shop thirty minutes away.
Public.
Busy.
Surrounded by cameras.
Detective Ruiz told me not to go alone.
So she came too.
Karen was already sitting in the corner when we arrived.
She looked nothing like the confident woman I remembered.
Her hands shook around a paper cup.
When she saw Ruiz, she almost stood.
“I thought Sarah was coming alone.”
“I’m not doing anything alone anymore.”
Karen looked at me.
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
She flinched.
I sat across from her.
Ruiz stayed at the next table after introducing herself.
“What did you lie about?”
Karen’s eyes filled.
“The affidavit.”
“You claimed I told you Lily might not be Jason’s.”
“I know.”
“You swore it was true.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She covered her mouth.
“Diane asked me.”
I stared at her.
“That’s your explanation?”
“No.”
“Because it sounds like one.”
Karen shook her head.
“She said the family was dealing with a private legal issue. She said Jason already knew Lily wasn’t his.”
“So you lied under oath because Diane asked nicely?”
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“She had something on me.”
I waited.
Karen looked toward Ruiz, then back at me.
“My husband didn’t know I had gambling debt.”
I felt nothing.
Not sympathy.
Not anger.
Just exhaustion.
“Diane loaned me money.”
“How much?”
“Forty thousand.”
I almost laughed.
Of course.
Money again.
“She told me she would tell my husband and demand repayment immediately unless I signed.”
“So you did.”
“Yes.”
“You helped her erase my daughter from her own family.”
Karen cried harder.
“I didn’t understand what the document was being used for.”
“You knew it was a lie.”
“Yes.”
“That was enough.”
She lowered her head.
“I’m sorry.”
I hated apologies.
Everyone was sorry after the truth came out.
Nobody had been brave when lying was easier.
Karen reached into her purse.
Ruiz immediately stood.
Karen froze.
“It’s only my phone.”
She placed it on the table.
“I have messages.”
My attention sharpened.
“What messages?”
“From Diane.”
She opened an old conversation.
She had never deleted it.
There were dozens of messages.
Some were ordinary.
Lunch plans.
Church events.
Family gossip.
Then Karen scrolled seven years back.
One message said:
I need you to remember that Sarah told you she slept with someone else. That’s all.
Karen had replied:
But she never told me that.
Diane:
I know. Just sign.
Another message.
You owe me. Don’t make this difficult.
Ruiz took over immediately.
She photographed the screen and asked Karen to preserve the phone.
Then she said, “Mrs. Whitmore, I strongly recommend you obtain an attorney.”
Karen began crying again.
“Am I going to jail?”
Ruiz didn’t answer.
I stood.
Karen reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
“Sarah, please.”
“What?”
“I loved Lily.”
My throat tightened.
“Then you should have acted like it.”
I walked out.
Jason was waiting at Maya’s apartment when I returned.
He had made dinner.
Not for me.
For Lily.
Macaroni and cheese shaped like little stars.
She loved it.
I stood in the doorway watching them.
Jason laughed at something she said.
For one dangerous second, everything looked normal.
Then I remembered that normal had been built on a secret.
Jason noticed me.
His smile disappeared.
“How did it go?”
“Karen confessed.”
He went still.
“All of it?”
“She admitted the affidavit was fake.”
Jason sat down slowly.
“Mom blackmailed her?”
“Yes.”
“With gambling debt.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“There’s always something.”
“What does that mean?”
He looked at me.
“She keeps pieces of people.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Secrets. Favors. Debts.”
He stared at the table.
“When I was sixteen, she found cigarettes in Emily’s room.”
Emily had never smoked as an adult.
“At twenty-three, Mom still brought it up whenever Emily disagreed with her.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“It worked.”
He looked toward Lily.
“Dad once wanted to sell the company and retire.”
“What happened?”
“Mom reminded him she had supported him after he made a terrible investment without telling Grandpa.”
“So he backed down.”
“Yes.”
I leaned against the wall.
“You all knew she manipulated people.”
“We called it managing.”
“That’s not managing.”
“I know.”
I almost laughed.
Again.
I know.
Jason looked at me.
“My therapist said the same thing.”
I blinked.
“Your what?”
“I saw someone this morning.”
That caught me completely off guard.
“You started therapy?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His expression changed.
“Because I don’t trust the way I make decisions anymore.”
I said nothing.
He continued.
“I believed Mom instead of asking my wife if she cheated.”
His voice shook.
“I spent seven years carrying anger toward you for something you never did.”
He looked at Lily.
“And I let that anger change what I allowed around our daughter.”
He met my eyes.
“I need to understand why.”
For the first time since the barbecue, I felt something other than rage toward him.
Not forgiveness.
Not trust.
But something.
Maybe respect.
A tiny amount.
“I’m glad you went.”
He nodded.
“I’m not doing it to get you back.”
That surprised me too.
“I mean, I want you back.”
He took a breath.
“But my therapist asked what happens if you never forgive me.”
I waited.
“I told her I still need to fix this part of myself.”
My eyes burned.
I looked away.
Then someone knocked.
All three of us froze.
Maya came from the hallway.
“Were you expecting anyone?”
“No.”
The knock came again.
Harder.
Lily grabbed Jason’s arm.
My heart began pounding.
Maya checked the door camera.
Her face changed.
“Oh my God.”
“What?”
She turned the phone toward me.
Diane stood outside.
Right beneath the camera.
Holding a wrapped present.
May you like
The protective order had been issued less than twenty-four hours earlier.
And Diane was smiling.
