Chapter 2

I stared at the sealed doors of the ER, my voice cracking as I spoke.

"Are you finished?"

"Then do you have any idea that Otis, just to keep Joy company, put a six-year-old on a roller coaster with a ten-year age minimum?"

"Joe fell off that ride. He's in there right now, fighting for his life!"

I thought my mother would at least ask how Joe was doing.

But she went quiet for a few seconds, then said,

"They couldn't have known something would go wrong. Why take it out on Otis and Joy?"

"Fine, I'll apologize to Joy on your behalf, all right? So petty. You're nothing like me."

The call ended in a rush.

A moment later, my mother updated her feed.

In the photo grid, she had her arm hooked fondly through Joy's, Otis seated beside them.

The caption read:

【My good girl, away from home so long, is finally back. Her mother couldn't be happier.】

Someone had commented:

【What a handsome son-in-law, what a beautiful daughter. A perfect, happy family.】

My mother didn't explain. Instead, she liked it.

The bitterness in my chest turned my stomach.

I jabbed at the button, trying to shut off the screen.

But instead I answered a call from Otis, coming in at that exact moment.

"Honey, I'm so sorry, I can't make it over to be with you and our son."

"Mom says Joy's back, and we're all supposed to have a welcome-home dinner together. I was worried you'd feel awkward coming, so how about I come pick you two up after it's over?"

"I'll give Joe another birthday tomorrow to make up for it. Don't be angry."

I cut him off.

"Did my mother not tell you Joe's in the hospital because of you?"

He tensed up at once.

"What do you mean? What happened to Joe?"

"City General. If you still count yourself a father, come see what you've done."

But I kept watch all night, and he never came.

All I got was a message.

【Mom says Joe's fine, nothing serious. Joy needs to adjust to the time difference, she just fell asleep, and if I go out now I'll wake her. I'll come pick you two up tomorrow.】

I sent him the divorce papers I'd already drawn up.

The thought of divorce hadn't come to me only just now.

But in that moment, I made up my mind for good.

Just because my mother had married Joy's widowed father,

just because Otis, the man Joy had secretly loved for years, had chosen me, they'd decided I was the one who owed her.

But I had never done anything wrong.

Why should I keep swallowing it?

When day broke, the lights in the ER finally went dark.

A nurse rushed out.

"The child's in critical condition. We need to bring in a specialist from out of town for surgery. We have to complete the paperwork now. Did you bring the household registration?"

I raced straight home.

But I entered the code several times in a row, and the lock kept flashing an error.

This code was supposed to be Joe's birthday.

Just as I was about to call Otis, the door suddenly opened.

He was bare-chested, hair a mess, and the second he saw me he shushed me.

"Keep it down, Joy's still sleeping."

Seeing me stare at the keypad lock, he explained, awkwardly,

"Joy couldn't remember the old code, so after everyone talked it over, we changed it to her birthday."

"Everyone?"

"Mom, Reginald, and me."

The down payment on this apartment came from selling the old house my grandmother left me, and I'd been the one paying off the mortgage all along.

Yet when they decided to change the code to my own home, I was the only one they never asked.

I pushed past him and walked straight for the master bedroom.

Otis hurried to block my way.

"What are you looking for? I'll get it for you."

The bedroom door was half open.

Joy was wearing Otis's pajamas and my slippers, sitting on my bed.

Joe's little pillow and quilt had been dumped in a careless heap beside the trash can.