Chapter 11 - THE PART I HAD TO ADMIT WAS MINEThe twist hurt Hailey too.
She had known about Brandon’s option.
She had not understood what it meant emotionally.
“He said it was temporary,” she told me.
“You signed an agreement giving him majority control.”
“If he brought in the capital.”
“My capital.”
She looked ashamed.
“I thought you were going to agree.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I need you to understand I wasn’t sitting there thinking we were stealing your house.”
I believed her.
That did not make her innocent.
She had watched her mother humiliate Skylar.
She had eaten food charged to me.
She had allowed Brandon’s vague assurances to replace a direct conversation because the vague version kept her business alive.
That pattern was familiar.
I had done my own version.
The hardest conversation was with Skylar.
We sat at our kitchen island after returning home.
I made grilled cheese.
She watched the pan.
“Are Brandon and you getting divorced?”
“Maybe.”
“Because of me?”
My stomach twisted.
“No.”
“Because Grandma was mean to me?”
“That’s part of something bigger.”
She looked down.
“I should’ve told you sooner.”
“No.”
I reached across the counter.
“I should have noticed sooner.”
“You were working.”
That was the excuse everyone used for me.
Brandon.
Gertrude.
Me.
“I was.”
I swallowed.
“And sometimes I used work because it felt easier than coming home and arguing.”
Skylar looked surprised.
Children think adults know which mistakes they are making while they make them.
We usually don’t.
“That wasn’t fair to you.”
She stared at her sandwich.
“Brandon used to be nice.”
That hurt more than if she called him cruel.
“I know.”
“Do you think he hates me because the house goes to me?”
“No.”
I answered quickly.
Then slowed down.
“I think Brandon became angry about what the house represented. That anger is his responsibility, not yours.”
She nodded.
“I miss old Brandon.”
So did I.
That was the damage after the twist.
The truth had not produced clarity as clean as I wanted.
Brandon had loved Skylar.
He had also betrayed her.
Gertrude had once taken her Christmas shopping.
Hailey had taught her to ice cupcakes.
Families do not become fake simply because they become unsafe.
May you like
That complexity was why leaving hurt.
It was also why staying required more than apologies.
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