Chapter 9 - WHAT DANIEL KNEW
Daniel asked to meet me alone.
Arthur suggested a public place and offered to attend.
I chose a coffee shop.
Ruth sat two tables away.
My son arrived looking as though he hadn’t slept.
He stared at my haircut.
“It looks nice.”
“Don’t.”
He sat.
For a while, he turned his paper cup between his palms.
Then he said, “I know you talked to Aunt Elaine.”
“She nearly sent you money.”
“I was going to use part of it to get us out.”
“You told her it was for my care.”
He looked toward the window.
“Daniel.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.
Start anywhere.”
He laughed without humor.
“The truth is the business didn’t just collapse.”
I waited.
“I took deposits on jobs I couldn’t finish.
I thought the next job would cover the last one.”
“And your partner?”
“He left when he found out.”
For three months, I had hated a man I had never met because my son needed someone else to blame.
“Does Vanessa know?”
“Yes.”
“Did she pretend to be me on the verification call?”
His fingers stopped moving.
“Yes.”
I looked down at my coffee.
I had known.
Hearing him say it still hurt.
“Who filled out the application?”
“I did.”
“Who signed my name?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Then he said, “I did that too.”
The shop carried on around us.
Milk steamed.
A chair scraped.
Someone laughed near the register.
My son had just admitted stealing my identity, and a woman beside us was debating blueberry or banana.
“Why my hair?” I asked.
His face tightened.
“Vanessa said you needed to understand that you couldn’t keep threatening our future.”
“So you gave her the scissors.”
“I thought she’d cut a little.
Scare you.”
I pushed my cup away.
He leaned forward.
“I know how that sounds.”
“No.
I don’t think you do.”
He began crying then.
Quietly.
For the first time, I believed the tears were real.
That didn’t make them enough.
“You’re all I have left,” he said.
I looked at the man across from me.
“No, Daniel.
You had me.
That didn’t stop you.”
Before leaving, he pulled an envelope from his jacket.
“I brought this from the house.”
Inside was a letter in Richard’s handwriting.
I recognized the date.
Six months before he died.
Daniel watched my face.
“Dad helped me before,” he said.
“He understood.”
I unfolded the page.
May you like
The first line read:
Daniel, this is the last debt I will pay for you.
