His Number Changed So I Changed My Life Chapter 33
My father was sitting in my mother’s living room.
A cup of tea sat untouched on the table in front of him.
My mother sat in the single armchair farthest away, the support cushion her doctor had prescribed propped behind her back.
When I walked in, she patted the seat beside her.
My father spoke first.
“I just wanted to make sure she was all right.”
“I’m fine,” my mother said. “You’ve confirmed that now.”
“People are talking about our family online again. Do you realize how much pressure that puts on her?”
He looked at me, still trying to use my mother as a shield between himself and the truth.
In the past, that tactic had always worked.
My mother would worry that an argument would cause a permanent rift between my father and me, that I was being too confrontational and might damage his career.
This time, she didn’t try to stop me.
“Don’t use my heart condition to demand Charlotte’s silence anymore,” she said.
My father froze.
“I’m protecting you.”
“You said hiding your affair was protecting me, too.”
My mother’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was steady.
“Later, you asked her to keep your number for emergencies. But really, you just couldn’t accept that your own daughter no longer needed you.”
My father’s expression darkened.
He looked at me.
“You told her all that?”
“She didn’t need me to.”