Chapter 4 - The Price of Choosing Sides
By Friday morning, the entire house felt different.
Maya ate breakfast quietly and carried her plate to the sink before anyone asked.
Eli barely touched his cereal.
Noah kept talking about the ocean, then stopping whenever he noticed Maya listening.
Denise behaved as though nothing unusual had happened.
She had already placed the boys' suitcases near the front door.
Their flight was scheduled for Saturday morning.
I called the airline again after breakfast.
A representative explained that Maya's original seat had been released when Denise canceled her booking.
There were still seats available on the flight, but the remaining fare was dramatically higher.
Reinstating the original reservation wasn't guaranteed.
The refund was also unresolved. The request to redirect it had been rejected, and any eligible refund would have to return through the original payment method.
I checked our savings.
We could possibly afford a new ticket, but it would leave almost nothing for emergencies.
The vacation itself had already cost more than I normally spent on a family trip. I'd saved for months, picking up weekend shifts whenever they were offered.
Denise came into the kitchen while I was reviewing the figures.
“Well?” she asked.
“I haven't decided.”
“About Maya's ticket?”
“About the trip.”
Her face hardened.
“You aren't seriously thinking about canceling everything.”
“I am.”
“Marcus, the boys have been looking forward to this for months.”
“So has Maya.”
“Don't punish them because you're angry with me.”
That stopped me.
Eli and Noah hadn't canceled anyone's ticket. They hadn't asked their mother to exclude Maya.
They were children caught in a decision they didn't make.
I didn't want to hurt them.
But I couldn't imagine boarding that plane while Maya stood in the doorway watching us leave.
“I'm not punishing the boys,” I said. “I'm trying to figure out how to keep a promise to all three children.”
Denise leaned against the counter.
“You always do this.”
“Do what?”
“Make me feel like my children are less important.”
I stared at her.
“I pay for their school activities. I take them to appointments. I taught Eli to drive around an empty parking lot last month. When Noah wakes up with nightmares, whose room does he come to?”
“That doesn't mean—”
“I love those boys, Denise.”
“Then prove it.”
I shook my head.
“Don't ask me to prove I love them by abandoning Maya.”
She turned away.
The discussion might have ended there if Eli hadn't appeared in the doorway.
“How is not taking Maya supposed to help us?” he asked.
Denise straightened.
“Eli, this is between adults.”
“Mom, I heard enough.”
He looked at me.
“Are we still going?”
“I don't know yet,” I told him.
He nodded slowly.
Then he asked, “Did you really cancel Maya's ticket, Mom?”
Denise's mouth tightened.
“We are not discussing this in front of everyone.”
“Because you did?”
“Eli.”
He stopped talking, but he didn't leave.
I asked him to check on Noah upstairs.
When he was gone, Denise turned on me.
“Now they're going to blame me for losing their vacation.”
“I didn't tell him to come downstairs.”
“You're letting this divide the family.”
I looked at her for a long moment.
“The family was already divided. I'm just finding out about it.”
Later that afternoon, I spoke privately with both boys.
I explained that Maya hadn't caused the problem and that whatever happened with the trip was an adult decision.
Noah cried.
He wanted to see the ocean. He wanted to ride on an airplane. He didn't understand why something he'd counted down to for weeks might disappear.
I held him until he calmed down.
Eli was quieter.
“Could we go somewhere closer instead?” he asked.
“Maybe.”
“With Maya?”
“That's what I want.”
He nodded.
That evening, Denise came into our bedroom while I was putting my work clothes away.
She shut the door.
“I'll say this once,” she told me. “If you cancel that trip, the boys will remember.”
“I know.”
“They'll know you chose Maya over them.”
I set a folded shirt in the drawer.
“That's not what I'm doing.”
“It'll feel that way to them.”
“Then we'll help them understand.”
Denise laughed bitterly.
“You really think it's that simple?”
“No.”
She waited.
I sat on the edge of the bed.
“Nothing about this is simple anymore.”
Denise stared at me.
Then she said, very quietly, “Maybe you need to decide what kind of family you actually want.”
May you like
I looked up.
She didn't take the words back.
