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I stared at him. “Because people won’t let it be.”
“Fuck people.”
“Danny,” Mama warned.
“What? Fuck ‘em.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“It is.”
“Of course you think that.”
His face changed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means.”
“No. Tell me.”
Mama spoke softly. “Blair.”
She wanted me to stop but I was already there. “You got to cheat on Mama for most of our lives and nobody stopped inviting you places.”
Daddy’s jaw tightened. “That’s between me and your mother.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“It absolutely was.”
“You had children, which means every time you cheated, it came home to us too.”
I kept going. “I knew when Mama was crying.”
“Blair—”
“I knew when you slept in the guest room. I knew when she wouldn’t talk to you. I knew when Auntie Vic came over and sat in the kitchen praying with her. I knew when you suddenly started bringing Mama flowers every fucking day.”
His face turned into shame.
“You think kids don’t notice shit because nobody explains it to them.”
I swallowed. “I noticed.”
Daddy looked away.
“I noticed all of it.” My voice cracked.
It pissed me off. I hated crying about Caleb. I hated crying about his ex-wife, Ravenna. I hated crying about my parents. I just hated fucking crying.
“I spent my whole childhood saying I would never let a man make me look like Mama.”
Mama inhaled loudly and Klair laughed.
I looked at her. “I’m sorry.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I understand.”
“I thought I’d leave.” My eyes burned. “I thought I’d be stronger and smarter. I thought if a man ever told me there was another woman, I’d be gone before he finished his fucking sentence.”
