Chapter 7 - Rachel finally calls me
Rachel did not call to apologize.
She called furious.
“What the hell did you say to Mark?”
“Hello to you too.”
“You have no right discussing my support.”
“I have every right to ask why I was told it didn’t exist.”
“Mom shouldn’t have told you anything.”
“She told me you needed money.”
“That’s between me and Mom.”
“No. It became between me and Mom when she asked me to pay.”
Rachel inhaled sharply.
“You offered to help us.”
“Sometimes.”
“You said family helps family.”
“Yes.”
“You have changed.”
Seven days postpartum.
Blood transfusion.
Still sleeping in forty-minute fragments.
I nearly laughed.
“Yes.”
Rachel’s voice broke.
“I have two kids, Elena.”
“And I have one.”
“So now it’s a competition?”
“No.”
“That’s exactly what this is. You finally have a baby and suddenly Noah and Lily don’t matter.”
That accusation hit the place our family had trained carefully.
Good Elena does not resent needs.
Good Elena can manage.
I looked at Iris sleeping in the bassinet.
Then said:
“Tell me what the three thousand dollars is for.”
Silence.
“Rachel?”
“Credit card.”
Not rent.
“What credit card?”
“Mine.”
“What is on it?”
“Life.”
I closed my eyes.
“Be specific.”
“Groceries. Clothes. Kids’ things.”
“And?”
“Why are you interrogating me?”
“Because Mom said it was rent.”
Rachel said nothing.
Then:
“She probably thought you’d say no if she told you.”
There.
I sat back.
“Did you know she lies to me?”
“I wouldn’t call it lying.”
“What would you call it?”
“Explaining things in a way you understand.”
That sentence did more damage than the amount.
Not because Rachel sounded evil.
Because she sounded normal.
As if of course Mom repackaged requests for Elena.
May you like
Of course we managed Elena’s reaction.
Of course my consent was something to engineer.
