Chapter 5 - The Door Neither Girl Wanted to Close
Mia crossed the hallway.
Kayla stepped back instinctively, clutching her bear.
Mia stopped a few feet away.
"You're not the reason," she said.
Kayla wiped her face with her sleeve.
"But Mom said—"
"I know what she said."
Mia swallowed.
"I was angry when I saw the boxes. And I was angry when I saw your name on my door."
Kayla's lower lip trembled.
"I'm sorry."
"I know."
"I didn't know she'd packed your things."
Mia looked toward the stairs, where Rochelle's suitcase had disappeared.
"I believe you."
Kayla seemed surprised.
Mia pointed toward the bedroom she'd slept in for years.
"I want my room back. But I don't want you to lose yours."
Kayla nodded.
"Okay."
"And I don't want us fighting because the adults won't talk to each other."
Kayla hugged the bear against her chest.
"Okay."
Daniel stood nearby, listening.
He wanted to tell Mia how proud he was.
Instead, he let her finish.
For once, he understood that his daughter didn't need someone to translate her feelings or interrupt them with reassurance.
She needed to be heard.
That evening, Rochelle remained downstairs on the phone with her sister while Daniel and the girls began restoring Mia's room.
They didn't turn it into a celebration.
There was too much hurt for that.
Daniel carried the heavy boxes.
Kayla gathered the decorations her mother had put on Mia's shelves and returned them to her own bedroom.
Mia unpacked the fragile things herself.
They worked quietly for almost an hour.
Then Kayla found the old wooden nameplate beneath a stack of books.
She held it carefully.
"Did your mom make this?"
Mia looked over.
"Yeah."
Kayla traced a yellow star with her finger.
"It's pretty."
Mia took it from her.
"She used to paint stuff all the time."
"Like you?"
Mia smiled faintly.
"That's where I got it."
Kayla hesitated.
"Can I tell you something?"
Mia nodded.
"Sometimes Mom gets upset when I talk about your mom."
Mia's smile faded.
"What do you mean?"
"Like when you show me pictures. She says I should let you have your memories and not act like I need to be part of everything."
Mia stared at her.
She had always assumed Kayla didn't care about Natalie.
In fact, Kayla had been told to stay away from that part of Mia's life.
"You can ask me about her," Mia said.
Kayla looked uncertain.
"Really?"
"Really."
Kayla placed her bear on the empty chair and picked up another box.
Daniel watched them.
He realized that Rochelle hadn't only been separating Mia from her belongings.
She had been teaching the girls to see affection as something limited.
As though there wasn't enough love in the house for both of them.
When Rochelle finally came upstairs, she stopped at Mia's doorway.
The blue curtains were back in place.
Her schoolbooks lined the desk.
Kayla was helping hang a framed drawing.
"What is this supposed to accomplish?" Rochelle asked.
Daniel stepped into the hallway.
"It's Mia's room."
"We already established that."
"No," he replied. "We established that after you took it from her."
Rochelle folded her arms.
"Are we really going to keep talking about this?"
"Yes," Daniel said. "Because it wasn't just a misunderstanding."
Kayla climbed down from the little step stool.
"Mom, why did you tell me Mia wanted to move?"
Rochelle looked at her daughter.
"I was trying to do something nice for you."
"But why did you say she asked?"
Rochelle's expression tightened.
"Because I knew you'd worry about her."
Kayla looked genuinely confused.
"Then why didn't you ask her?"
Rochelle didn't answer.
Mia came to stand beside the doorway.
Her voice was quiet but clear.
"You could have asked me if we could rearrange things. You could have asked Dad to help Kayla get more shelves."
Rochelle watched her.
"But you didn't ask. You waited until I went to school."
Daniel reached into his pocket and removed the folded paper Mia had given him.
He didn't unfold it.
He didn't need to.
"Rochelle, this has been going on longer than today."
Rochelle looked at the paper.
"What is that?"
"A list of things Mia stopped asking us to fix."
Mia's face burned.
"Dad—"
He stopped immediately.
Then he put the paper away.
"You're right," he told her. "That's yours to share, not mine."
Mia looked surprised.
It was a small correction.
But it mattered.
Daniel faced Rochelle again.
"I'm not going to use Mia's private words to win an argument. I am going to insist that we deal with what happened."
Rochelle's voice lowered.
"What do you want from me?"
Daniel looked toward the basement stairs.
"I want you to stop pretending this was a fair decision that somebody misunderstood."
He paused.
"You told Kayla that Mia wanted to move. You told me we'd agreed to reorganize the house. You knew neither of those things was true."
Rochelle opened her mouth, then closed it.
Mia stepped forward.
She had one question left.
"Did you actually think I would be happy down there?"
Rochelle looked at her.
Mia's voice shook.
"Or did you just think I wouldn't fight you?"
The room went silent.
Daniel didn't answer for his daughter.
May you like
Kayla didn't move.
And Rochelle, standing before the two girls she had spent months dividing, finally had nowhere left to hide behind the word fairness.
