“You always twist everything when Caroline is around.”
I almost laughed.
Even standing beside documentary evidence, Elaine still tried to make me the problem.
Derek held up the property record.
“You told me you were going to lose your place.”
“I said I needed somewhere secure.”
“You told me there was a landlord waiting for a deposit.”
Elaine’s eyes flicked toward the officers.
“That is between me and my son.”
“No,” Mr.
Robles said.
“Not entirely.”
He took another paper from the envelope.
“The deposit associated with the apartment was charged through an authorized-user card connected to Caroline’s account.”
Derek’s face tightened.
I had already shown him the same transaction in the black folder, but hearing a lawyer say it aloud made it harder for him to pretend it was a misunderstanding.
“I didn’t use her card,” he said quickly.
I looked at him.
“You opened access to it in my name.”
“I thought I was allowed to use the household account.”
“It was not a household account.”
“We’re married.”
“That does not turn my separate account into yours.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I was going to pay it back.”
“With what?” I asked.
“You just gave away your entire paycheck.”
That landed harder than I expected.
His hand fell to his side.
Behind him, Leo stood in the hallway holding his stuffed dinosaur against his chest.
I wanted him back in his room.
I wanted him to hear none of this.
But he had already heard too much long before that night.
He had heard Elaine say I was not his father’s real family.
He had heard Derek defend his mother again and again.
He had watched me pay for things and then watched Derek complain that I cared too much about money.
Children notice what adults think they hide.
Derek glanced toward Leo.
“Buddy, go upstairs.”
Leo did not move.
I knelt beside him.
“Go to your room for me, sweetheart.”
He looked at me, then at Derek.
“Is Grandma leaving?”
Elaine inhaled sharply.
Derek closed his eyes.
“Yes,” I said gently.
“The grown-ups are handling something.”
Leo nodded and walked away.
His bedroom door closed upstairs.
Only then did Derek speak again.
“What exactly did my mother say to him?”
Elaine immediately interrupted.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.
Children misunderstand things.”
I opened the folder and pulled out one of the notes I had made after Leo finally told me what he had heard.
