Chapter 4 - What Happened When Nobody Was Watching
The next morning, James made breakfast before leaving for work.
Simone came downstairs in an oversized T-shirt.
Her eyes were swollen from crying.
He pushed a plate toward her.
"Eggs and toast."
She sat down.
"You're not going to the shop?"
"Only for a couple of hours. I arranged to leave early."
"Because of graduation?"
"Because there's a lot we need to figure out."
Simone looked at him.
"Are you and Celeste getting divorced?"
James lowered his coffee cup.
"I don't know yet."
She stared at the table.
"I don't want you to do that just because of me."
"Listen to me carefully," he said. "What happens between Celeste and me is our responsibility. I need you to understand that."
She nodded, but he wasn't sure she believed him.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Celeste.
We need to talk before tomorrow. People are already asking why Mia and I left.
A second message followed.
You embarrassed both of us. My sister says we need to come home and discuss this like adults.
James placed the phone facedown.
For years, he'd allowed arguments to end whenever Celeste decided the subject was uncomfortable.
Not this time.
He waited until Simone had finished breakfast.
Then he asked a question he should have asked long ago.
"What else has been happening when I'm not here?"
Simone rubbed her thumb against the handle of her coffee mug.
"Nothing you can fix now."
"Maybe not. But I still need to hear it."
She took a breath.
"Remember my college acceptance dinner?"
James nodded.
Simone had been accepted to a state university with a partial academic scholarship.
He'd been proud enough to call his sister Olivia before dinner.
"Celeste told Mia she could invite her friends," Simone continued. "But when I asked if Aunt Olivia could come, she said there wasn't enough room."
James frowned.
"I thought Olivia couldn't make it."
"That's what Celeste told you."
Simone looked away.
"And remember the family pictures last summer?"
The photographs were hanging in the hallway.
James remembered standing beneath the oak tree with Celeste and both girls.
"Celeste asked me to step aside for a picture of her and Mia," Simone said. "Then she posted that one with a caption about her beautiful little family."
James felt a tightening in his chest.
He had seen the photograph.
He hadn't considered what it might have meant to the daughter standing just outside the frame.
Simone continued.
"Sometimes she'd ask me to wash dishes while she and Mia watched movies. Sometimes Mia borrowed my stuff and didn't bring it back."
"Why didn't you tell me about the dinner?"
"I tried, Dad."
He remembered a phone call.
Simone had been upset about something Celeste said.
He had been in the repair shop, trying to deal with a delayed parts shipment.
He'd promised to talk later.
He never had.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Simone nodded without looking up.
He knew an apology couldn't give back the years he'd missed.
But he could stop making excuses.
That afternoon, James met Celeste at her sister's house.
He didn't bring Simone.
Celeste answered the door wearing the same tight expression she'd worn the previous evening.
"We need to put this behind us," she said.
James remained standing.
"First, we need to talk about what you've been doing to Simone."
Celeste sighed.
"She's been filling your head with stories."
"Some of them are things I remember seeing."
Celeste folded her arms.
"Families aren't perfect."
"No. But fairness shouldn't be optional."
She looked away.
James explained that he intended to live separately while they considered the future of the marriage. He would arrange a proper discussion of their shared responsibilities and finances.
Celeste's expression hardened.
"Over one stupid dress."
James looked at her.
"You keep saying that."
"Because it's true."
"No," he replied. "Because calling it a stupid dress makes it easier to ignore what happened."
Celeste's eyes narrowed.
"And what about Mia's three-thousand-dollar purse?"
"I destroyed it. I will make arrangements to compensate her for the property I damaged."
Celeste looked startled.
"Then you admit you were wrong."
"Yes."
She seemed prepared to smile.
But James continued.
"And Mia was wrong to burn Simone's dress. You were wrong to defend her. Those things are true at the same time."
Celeste's smile disappeared.
James waited.
He had hoped she might finally acknowledge what Simone had endured.
Instead, she asked, "What am I supposed to tell people at graduation?"
He studied her for a moment.
"Tell them we aren't sitting together."
Then he walked away.
Back at home, Simone was ironing the new dress with a towel beneath the fabric.
James stopped in the doorway.
"How's it looking?"
She smoothed one sleeve.
"Pretty good."
He smiled.
Then she asked something he hadn't expected.
"Do I have to invite Celeste and Mia tomorrow?"
James looked at his daughter.
"No."
"Even if they get mad?"
"Even then."
May you like
Simone stared at the dress.
For the first time, she seemed to be considering what she wanted rather than what would keep everyone else happy.
