“It’s just such a shame when you leave this big house empty while you’re gone,” Ma said.
“We will move in,” Wes jumped in.
“I just don’t understand what happened. We’ve seen what the news said. But we know there has to be more to it than that,” Dad said.
“Not really. I have a temper. I punched Roderick Chagny in his rat-face and I was fired. Well, I quit before that. Technically.” More or less.
“Is this because of Kim?” Dad asked. “I was hoping she might still come around. I watched that documentary she suggested.”
“Kim is gone. She’s on tour with Chagny,” I said.
“She’s doing really well. I follow her on Instagram,” Kelly added. “I never got to meet her, but she seems … lovely.”
“That’s not her. That’s a doll being dressed up to get downloads. That’s Christine Day.”
The table went silent as I brooded.
“I’m sorry. You seem very upset about her being gone,” Ma said.
“I’m fine. She’s the one that left. She chose that guy who is clearly using her. It’s the life she picked.”
Wes sat back and sighed. “You can’t put it all on her, man.”
“What?” I glared at him.
Ma flicked a glance to me. Dad and Kelly stayed quiet.
“You’re playing the victim in all this,” Wes continued.
“I am not. I just don’t care.”
“You clearly do.”
I might as well put it all out there. Everybody else was going to take Chagny and Kim’s side in all this. I wanted somebody on my side.
“I gave her a choice. She chose him. She walked away after committing to me—to the solo.”
“You gave her a choice?” my mom asked. “How? What does that mean?”
I explained about the notes. About how close we’d grown. About how that asshole had pretended they were his. How I punched him, and how he’d fully deserved it.
“She could never make a choice. Never. She wanted somebody like him to take all that pressure off her shoulders,” I finished.
“So,” Dad started. “Knowing that she finds decision making difficult, you put her on the spot with Chagny. The man who she’s spent her whole life thinking was the author of those notes. Then made her choose, and risk hurting somebody no matter what? All the while not telling her the truth.”
I blinked. Well, when he put it that way, of course it sounded bad.
“She had no qualms about hurting me. She chose him. I was only ever the fun-time guy before Chagny.” My fork flew as I slammed the table with my fist. “And come on, she should have known about the notes. Chagny? Really?”
“Do you honestly believe that?” Ma pushed her plate back too and crossed her arms. “Because we all met her and don’t believe for a second that she uses people. And were you two close back at camp? If she didn’t know the notes were from you, then how would she have ever guessed you’d sent them? Especially if he’d claimed to be writing them. Why would she doubt that?”
I frowned at the table, scratching my beard. “She asked me to give her a reason to stay. She asked me to tell her that I would choose her long term.”
Three blank faces glared back at me. I wished I hadn’t said that last part out loud. Out of context it sounded bad on me.
I pressed on, trying to explain my point of view. “But that was her making me do the work again, don’t you see? I needed her to decide. I wouldn’t force her hand only to face her resentment as the years went on.”
My dad at least nodded once as though he could see my point of view.
