Chapter 7 - LAUREN CAME TO MY DOOR
Lauren took a plea agreement for her role in the forged loan.
Probation.
Financial penalties.
Mandatory cooperation.
She lost her job in banking.
That consequence crushed her.
Six months later, she came to my apartment.
She waited outside.
Did not knock.
Texted Julia first.
That mattered.
I agreed to ten minutes.
Lauren sat across from me.
“I’m sorry.”
I waited.
“I knew something was wrong.”
Better.
“Daniel told me you approved the loan.”
“Yes.”
“But I knew if you approved it, I wouldn’t need to pretend to be you.”
Exactly.
She cried.
“I didn’t ask because I didn’t want the answer.”
There it was.
The family disease.
Not ignorance.
Avoidance.
“What do you want from me?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why come?”
“Because I spent my whole life saying Mom was difficult but harmless.”
She wiped her face.
“And Daniel was protective but complicated.”
I said nothing.
“We had words for everything except wrong.”
That was true.
She continued:
“I want you to know I testified fully.”
“I know.”
“And I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
She almost smiled.
“I expected that.”
Before leaving, she gave me a box.
Inside were baby things.
Two knitted hats.
Cream and green.
I had left them at Daniel’s house after the hospital.
My throat closed.
“Where did you get these?”
“Mom kept them.”
I stared.
“She said she couldn’t throw them away.”
That hurt in a way I did not expect.
Margaret had taken something from me that could never be returned.
And still she had kept the hats.
People are unbearable in their contradictions.
I held them for a long time after Lauren left.
Then I put them inside a drawer.
Not hidden.
Not displayed.
May you like
Mine.
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