Chapter 13
Linda’s apology was worse.
“I’m sorry I let things go too far.”
Emily stared.
“Which part was acceptable?”
Linda froze.
“The phone?”
Silence.
“The food?”
Nothing.
“The room?”
Linda started crying.
Emily did not stop.
“The bruises?”
“I never wanted him to hurt you.”
“But you covered them.”
Linda looked down.
Emily’s voice shook.
“You taught me to hide what your son did so he could keep feeling like a good man.”
That was the sentence.
Linda had no answer because there was none.
She had spent months protecting Ryan from the truth of himself.
Every blanket.
Every excuse.
Every confiscated phone.
Every locked door.
She called it preserving a marriage.
In reality, she preserved the conditions that made the marriage unsafe.
Emily eventually said:
“I don’t want to see you.”
Linda looked at me.
I said nothing.
May you like
She had spent months using my imagined authority against Emily.
I would not use real authority to override her now.
