“I had exams.”
“You had one exam.”
“I had three.”
“Two were quizzes.”
Maya stared.
Marcus lifted one hand.
“Stop.”
Vanessa did.
He looked at Maya.
“Have you been fighting with Vanessa?”
Maya looked down.
Sometimes silence carried more information than a paragraph.
Marcus felt something cold begin moving through his chest.
“Maya.”
She shrugged.
“Sometimes.”
“What kind of fighting?”
Vanessa immediately said, “Marcus, she is upset.”
He looked at her.
“I asked my daughter.”
The emphasis was unmistakable.
Vanessa stepped back.
Maya wiped her face.
“She says I talk about Mom too much.”
Marcus closed his eyes for one second.
“What else?”
“She took Mom’s picture out of the kitchen.”
Vanessa sighed.
“It did not match the redecorating.”
Marcus’s eyes opened.
“You told me the frame broke.”
“It did.”
Maya said, “No.”
Marcus looked at her.
“I found it in the garage.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Maya continued.
“The frame wasn’t broken.”
Marcus stared at his wife.
“When?”
“Two months ago,” Maya said.
He turned back.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Maya’s face collapsed.
“She said you were tired.”
Marcus’s breathing slowed.
“What?”
Maya looked terrified now, not of Vanessa, but of disappointing him.
“She said you were tired because everybody kept making you choose.”
No one spoke.
Marcus felt the sentence physically.
“Choose between what?”
Maya looked toward Vanessa.
Then back at him.
“Me and her.”
Marcus turned.
Vanessa shook her head.
“That is not what I said.”
Maya cried harder.
“You did.”
“I said your father deserves peace.”
“You said he would send me to Grandma if I kept making problems.”
Marcus looked at Lillian.
Lillian looked equally stunned.
“What?”
Maya covered her face.
“You said he would be happier if I lived with Grandma.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Maya, I was frustrated.”
Marcus moved between them.
“Do not come closer.”
Vanessa stopped.
“Marcus.”
“Did you say that?”
“I may have said she could spend more time with Lillian if we could not get along.”
“To a fourteen-year-old whose mother is dead?”
“That isn’t fair.”
“No.”
Marcus’s voice remained frighteningly calm.
“It isn’t.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“You never see what she does.”
“What does she do?”
“She punishes me for existing.”
Maya stared at her.