Chapter 15 - ELISE MEETS AVA
The first meeting happened through a reunification therapist.
I was not there.
Daniel was not.
Ava told me afterward.
She came home pale.
“How was it?”
“Don’t.”
“Okay.”
An hour later she entered my room.
“Elise cried.”
I nodded.
“She kept saying sorry.”
“What did you say?”
“Stop.”
I almost smiled.
Then:
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
Good.
“What else?”
“She brought pictures.”
“Of you?”
“Of me when I was little.”
Ava sat beside me.
“She has my kindergarten picture.”
I remembered that picture.
Red sweater.
Missing front tooth.
“How?”
“She said Grandma mailed it once.”
Elaine.
Daniel’s mother.
Interesting.
Family complicity had limits.
Elaine had secretly sent Elise school photos even while publicly supporting Daniel.
People are inconsistent.
Ava whispered:
“She didn’t forget me.”
“No.”
“Dad said she did.”
“I know.”
Then Ava looked at me.
“Did you know?”
“Not until recently.”
“Would you have told me if Dad hadn’t done the barbecue thing?”
There.
The question I feared.
“I don’t know.”
She nodded slowly.
May you like
“At least that’s honest.”
It did not feel like a compliment.
