Chapter 14 - The Last Dinner Before the Decision
Six months after Daniel’s birthday, Rachel asked to meet his parents.
Linda refused at first.
Robert surprised everyone.
“I’ll go.”
Linda stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because I want to know whether she can say it without Daniel standing there.”
Eventually Linda agreed.
They met at a quiet restaurant in Downers Grove.
Daniel did not attend.
Rachel arrived first.
She stood when the Mercers approached.
No designer dress.
No performance.
No speech prepared on stationery.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
Linda remained standing.
“For which part?”
Rachel swallowed.
“The soup.”
Linda waited.
“The things I said.”
Still Linda waited.
“Using your information.”
Rachel looked at Robert.
“And using your signature.”
Robert asked, “Why should we believe this apology?”
Rachel nodded slowly.
“You shouldn’t yet.”
That answer mattered more than a polished plea would have.
She explained that her business closure was nearly complete.
She had begun working for another design firm as an employee instead of owner.
Her attorney was negotiating responsibility for the disputed debt.
She had started making monthly payments toward the original fifty-thousand-dollar loan.
Robert had received the first two.
Linda finally sat down.
“Do you still think we’re beneath you?”
Rachel looked at her.
“No.”
“Did you ever?”
Rachel took longer to answer.
“Yes.”
Linda’s face tightened.
Rachel continued.
“Because if I could convince myself you were small, then needing you didn’t make me feel small.”
Robert looked away.
Linda said, “That may explain you. It does not excuse you.”
“I know.”
After dinner Rachel walked alone to her car.
Linda and Robert stayed at the table.
Daniel received no triumphant phone call.
His mother simply texted him:
She apologized without asking us to forgive her.
Daniel read it in his apartment.
Then another message arrived.
From Rachel.
I signed the final business-closure documents today. I need to know whether we’re closing us too.
Daniel stared at the question for a long time.
May you like
He finally answered:
Come tomorrow. We’ll talk.
