Chapter 2 - What Her Daughters Already Knew
Lauren drove straight to her sister Dana’s house in Oak Brook.
The girls said almost nothing during the twenty-minute drive.
That frightened Lauren more than crying would have.
Emma watched the houses pass.
Sophie hugged her backpack to her chest even though she had packed nothing into it.
Dana opened the door wearing sweatpants and carrying a mug of tea.
“What happened?”
Lauren shook her head toward the girls.
“Later.”
Dana understood.
Within fifteen minutes Sophie was eating grilled cheese at the kitchen island, while Emma picked at tomato soup.
Lauren sat across from them.
“You girls can tell me anything about tonight.”
Emma looked down.
“Are you mad at Daddy?”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised her daughter.
“But not at you,” Lauren added.
Emma swallowed.
“Grandma always does stuff when you’re not there.”
Lauren felt the room narrow.
“What stuff?”
Sophie answered first.
“She says we’re messy like you.”
Emma gave her sister a warning glance.
Lauren noticed.
“Emma.”
The girl’s eyes filled.
“She told Sophie once that Dad should’ve married somebody who knew how to be a real wife.”
Dana stopped moving behind the counter.
Lauren kept her voice steady.
“When?”
“At Grandma’s house.”
“Was Daddy there?”
Emma hesitated.
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He told Grandma to stop.”
Lauren almost relaxed.
Then Emma continued.
“But after Grandma left the room, he told us not to make you upset because you’re sensitive about your job.”
Lauren sat very still.
Sensitive about your job.
Michael’s favorite explanation whenever Lauren objected to being demeaned.
He had told her she was insecure.
Too defensive.
Unable to take a joke.
Now he had taught their daughters the same interpretation.
Dana pulled out the stool beside Lauren.
“How long?”
Emma shrugged helplessly.
“I don’t know.”
Sophie whispered, “Grandma says Daddy is embarrassed.”
Lauren closed her eyes for one second.
There were memories she had spent years filing under unpleasant but manageable.
Carol introducing Lauren as “our cleaning expert” at a holiday party despite knowing Lauren employed nearly two hundred people.
Michael correcting Lauren when she called Mercer Facility Solutions a company.
“It’s a service business, babe. Don’t make it sound like you’re running General Motors.”
Carol joking that Lauren’s degree in business management had “really paid off with all those mops.”
Michael laughing.
Lauren had swallowed every one.
She had told herself dignity meant refusing to react.
What had her silence taught Emma and Sophie?
Dana touched the black folder.
“What is this?”
Lauren looked at it.
“This is why Michael went quiet.”
Inside were termination notices, outstanding invoices, service-change records, and an internal review involving Michael’s company, Halstead Workplace Interiors.
Lauren had intended to discuss it privately with him after his birthday.
Then she had watched Carol throw away her daughters’ food.
“Did you really cancel his contract?”
“Yes.”
“Tonight?”
“This morning.”
“Does he know why?”
“Not everything.”
Dana leaned back.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Lauren opened the folder.
A printed email sat near the top.
It had been sent by Michael to Halstead’s finance director four weeks earlier.
Do not copy Lauren. I handle Mercer on the family side.
Dana read it.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Another line appeared lower in the thread.
The lender doesn’t need the ownership structure explained. They only need to know continued support is secure.
Lauren had read that email three times before the birthday dinner.
Now she read it differently.
Continued support.
Secure.
Dana looked at her.
“Lauren, what exactly has Michael been telling people about your company?”
May you like
Lauren closed the folder.
“That’s what I’m going to find out.”
