Tessa couldn’t see us from where she was sitting, but I could hear the television turned low.
Their mother asked, “You’re taking the kids away from me over one mistake?”
“No.”
I pushed the hidden phone a few inches toward her.
“I’m reacting to the decision you made, the lie you prepared, and the fact that our daughter was afraid to call me because you told her not to.”
She stared at the phone.
The screen lit again.
R was calling.
Neither of us reached for it.
The buzzing stopped.
A few seconds later, another notification appeared.
“Are you there?”
Their mother closed her eyes.
I didn’t open anything else.
I didn’t need another discovery that night.
I already had enough information to decide what the next few hours needed to look like.
She packed a bag.
