Chapter 5 - The Invitation on the Refrigerator
By Saturday morning, the house felt strangely quiet.
Nia came downstairs wearing the green dress.
Her hair was neatly styled, and she carried the blue folder against her chest.
David stood near the front door in a charcoal suit.
When he saw her, he smiled.
"Look at you."
Nia laughed nervously.
"Do I look okay?"
"You look like someone who earned a scholarship."
She smiled.
For a moment, the tension of the previous two days seemed far away.
Then Louise emerged from the kitchen.
She looked at Nia's dress.
"That's a pretty color."
"Thanks, Grandma."
Louise hesitated.
"What time does everything start?"
"Eleven."
"Oh."
The silence stretched.
Nia waited, hoping her grandmother might change her mind.
But Louise only nodded.
"Well. Have a good time."
Nia lowered her eyes.
"Thank you."
David opened the door.
As they walked toward the car, he noticed Nia looking back at the house.
He wanted to tell her everything would eventually be fine.
But he couldn't promise that.
Instead, he said, "You can be disappointed in somebody and still love them."
Nia slid into the passenger seat.
"I know."
"And they can love you and still owe you an apology."
She looked at him.
"That part's harder."
David nodded.
"Sometimes."
Inside the house, Simone stood at the top of the stairs.
She had heard the conversation.
She watched the car pull away through the upstairs window.
Then she went into Nia's room.
She didn't touch the dresser, the laptop, or the carefully arranged schoolbooks.
She stood beside the desk.
A framed photograph sat near the lamp.
It showed two little girls on a kitchen floor, surrounded by cardboard, tape, and a crooked handmade bridge.
Their mother had taken the picture years earlier.
Simone remembered that afternoon.
Nia had cried because the bridge kept collapsing.
Simone had spent nearly an hour helping her rebuild it.
When they finished, Nia had thrown her arms around her sister.
"You're the smartest person I know."
Simone remembered how proud she had felt.
She looked at the photograph for a long time.
Then she noticed a small stack of papers on the desk.
On top lay the reconstructed scholarship letter.
Nia had finished taping most of it together.
The damaged page was covered in careful strips of transparent tape.
Simone touched its edge.
She remembered Nia kneeling on the carpet, desperately trying to collect the pieces.
For the first time, she let herself remember the expression on her sister's face without turning it into an accusation against her.
She had wanted to hurt Nia's pride.
Instead, she had frightened someone who had trusted her.
Simone left the paper where she found it.
She went downstairs.
Louise was sitting at the kitchen table.
"Grandma?"
"Yes, baby?"
"Why didn't you go?"
Louise looked surprised.
"Because your father thinks I'm the villain now."
Simone pulled out a chair.
"That's not what he said."
Louise frowned.
"Since when are you defending him?"
"I'm not."
Simone looked toward the empty hallway.
"I just think we made this worse."
Louise set down her coffee cup.
"What do you mean, we?"
Simone swallowed.
"I cut her letter. You told her it didn't matter."
Louise looked uncomfortable.
"I was trying to stop the argument."
"But Nia wasn't arguing. She was crying."
Her grandmother stared at her.
Simone looked down at her hands.
"I was jealous."
Louise reached toward her.
"Oh, sweetheart—"
"No. Don't tell me it was understandable."
Louise stopped.
"I knew how much she wanted that scholarship. She talked to me about it before she even applied."
Simone's eyes filled.
"She used to ask me to read her essays. I used to help her."
She wiped her cheeks.
"And then I started acting like every good thing that happened to her was something being taken away from me."
Louise didn't interrupt.
"I thought Dad would finally notice how badly I was doing if I made everybody else miserable too."
"Your father loves you."
"I know."
Simone took a breath.
"But Nia does too. And I treated her like she was my enemy."
For a long time, Louise said nothing.
Then she looked at the clock.
It was nearly ten-thirty.
The reception was being held at a community center twenty minutes away.
Louise stood slowly.
"Get your coat."
Simone looked up.
"What?"
"We need to go."
Simone hesitated.
"Nia doesn't want us there."
"I know."
"Then why are we going?"
Louise picked up her purse.
"Because we owe her something."
At the community center, Nia and David were standing near the entrance when Nia noticed two familiar figures approaching from the parking lot.
Her smile vanished.
" Dad."
David followed her gaze.
Louise was walking toward them.
Simone was beside her.
Nia tightened her grip on the blue folder.
"Dad, I said I didn't want—"
"I know."
May you like
David stepped forward.
And for the first time, Simone stopped walking before her father had to tell her to stop.
