“It feels wrong.”
“It isn't.”
Nora turned slightly toward him.
“You keep saying things like you know.”
“I have a divorce.”
“Not blindness.”
“No.”
He smiled faintly.
“But loneliness comes in different costumes.”
Nora laughed softly.
Then her expression changed.
“Do you hate Laura?”
Daniel looked toward Chloe.
“I’m trying not to answer big questions quickly anymore.”
“Good strategy.”
“New.”
Nora nodded.
“I don't know what I feel.”
Daniel continued.
“She hurt you.”
“Yes.”
“She hurt Chloe.”
“Yes.”
“She lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn't mean she's only those things.”
Nora went quiet.
Daniel thought of the letter.
Fear becoming inheritance.
“People can do unforgivable things while still being more than the worst thing they did.”
Nora turned toward him.
“Are you saying I should forgive her?”
“No.”
He answered immediately.
“I'm saying you get to decide what forgiveness even means.”
Nora smiled sadly.
“I like that better.”
Laura came to Daniel's house that evening.
No Mercedes.
She arrived in a rental sedan.
Probably because she did not want the black car reminding anyone of the bus stop.
Daniel noticed anyway.
Nora was upstairs in the guest room.
Chloe sat at the kitchen table coloring.
When the doorbell rang, Chloe looked up.
“Mom?”
Daniel nodded.
His daughter immediately became nervous.
That angered him more than he expected.
Children should not brace for their parents.
He opened the door.
Laura looked exhausted.
No makeup.
Hair tied back.
She carried Nora’s phone in one hand and Nora’s shoes in the other.
The shoes stopped Daniel.
He stared.
Laura followed his gaze.
“I found them in the car.”
“You drove away with her shoes.”
Her face collapsed.
“I know.”
Daniel stepped aside.
Laura entered.
Chloe remained seated.
“Hi, baby.”
Chloe looked at her.
“Is Nora my sister?”
Laura stopped.
No preparation.
No soft introduction.
Children again.
Straight to the center.
“Yes.”
Chloe nodded.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Laura looked toward Daniel.
He gave her nothing.
She had to answer herself.
“Because I was scared.”
“Of Nora?”
“No.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Laura sank into the chair across from her daughter.
“Of you seeing me differently.”
Chloe frowned.
“But you made her sit in rain.”
Laura began crying.
“Yes.”
“That makes me see you differently.”