Chapter 2: What He Heard
David Carter stood in the foyer with one hand gripping the staircase railing.
His face had gone pale.
Victoria looked at him.
“David, I was just—”
“What did you say?””
His voice wasn't loud.
That made it more frightening.
Victoria set the wineglass on the console.
“I was explaining the situation.””
“No.””
David walked toward the door.
“What did you say to Emma?””
Victoria folded her arms.
“She was upset because I told her she couldn't stay here.””
“You told her she couldn't stay?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because we agreed.””
David stopped.
“I never agreed to that.””
Victoria's expression changed.
Just slightly.
“You said we needed boundaries.””
“Boundaries are not the same thing as telling my daughter this isn't her home.””
“She is twenty-four.””
“She is my daughter.””
“And this is our house.””
David stared at her.
“Our house?””
“Yes.””
He looked at the photograph on the console.
Emma at sixteen.
Emma at ten.
Emma holding a birthday cake with crooked candles.
There were pictures everywhere.
Not because David had deliberately filled the house with memories.
Because they had accumulated over the years.
His daughter had grown up here.
She had slept upstairs.
She had broken the living-room lamp practicing volleyball.
She had painted her bedroom walls bright blue without asking.
She had cried on the kitchen floor after her mother died.
And he had held her there until sunrise.
David turned back to Victoria.
“You changed the locks?””
Victoria hesitated.
“David—”
“You changed the locks?””
“Yes.””
“Without telling me?””
“I told you we needed to.””
“No. You told me you were getting new locks because the old ones were worn out.””
“They were worn out.””
“And you made sure Emma's key didn't work.””
Victoria exhaled.
“Because she keeps showing up.””
David stared at her.
“She came home.””
“She doesn't live here.””
“She grew up here.””
“She has her own apartment.””
“So?””
“So she can't just come and go whenever she wants.””
David's jaw tightened.
“She said she was staying two nights.””
“And I said no.””
“Why?””
Victoria's silence answered before her words did.
David stepped closer.
“Why?””
Victoria's voice hardened.
“Because I wanted one weekend alone with my husband.””
“You could have said that.””
“I did.””
“You could have said, ‘Emma, your father and I have plans.’”
“I did.””
“No, Victoria.””
He pointed toward the door.
“You told her this wasn't her home.””
Victoria shook her head.
“She needs to understand that she's an adult.””
“She understands.””
“Then why is she always here?””
David stared at her.
“Because her father lives here.””
Victoria's lips pressed into a thin line.
“That isn't the point.””
“It is exactly the point.””
David opened the door.
Emma was standing at the bottom of the porch steps.
She had heard enough.
“Emma.””
She turned.
Her eyes were red.
David's expression broke.
“Come inside.””
Emma shook her head.
“It's okay.””
“No.””
“Dad, really.””
“Come inside.””
Victoria moved toward them.
“David, this is exactly what I'm talking about.””
He didn't even look at her.
“Emma, please.””
Emma stepped back onto the porch.
“I don't want to make things worse.””
“You didn't.””
“I don't want to come between you and Victoria.””
“You are not between us.””
Victoria let out a frustrated breath.
“David—”
He finally turned toward her.
“No.””
One word.
Victoria stopped.
David looked back at Emma.
“Did she say anything else?””
Emma hesitated.
“Does it matter?””
“Yes.””
“She said my room would be packed.””
David's eyes widened.
“What?””
“She said she'd send my things somewhere.””
Victoria spoke quickly.
“I said I would organize them.””
“Your things?””
David looked at Emma.
“What things?””
“My boxes.””
“What boxes?””
Emma gave a small shrug.
“Everything from my room.””
David stared at Victoria.
“You packed her room?””
“Not yet.””
“But you planned to.””
“We don't need a room that no longer has a purpose.””
David went completely still.
Emma looked down.
“Dad, please don't fight.””
He walked toward her.
“Emma.””
She looked up.
“You don't have to ask permission to come home.””
Her lips trembled.
“Then why did she say—”
“I know what she said.””
David stepped onto the porch.
“You're my daughter. This house has never stopped being your home.””
Emma wiped quickly at her cheek.
“I don't want to be unwanted.””
“You are wanted.””
Behind him, Victoria said quietly, “David, you're making this emotional.””
He turned.
“Because it is emotional.””
“I'm trying to protect our marriage.””
“And I'm trying to protect my daughter.””
“You can't keep treating her like she's a child.””
“I don't.””
“You just invited her back in after I told her to leave.””
“Because you were wrong.””
Victoria's face flushed.
David reached for Emma's bag.
“Give me that.””
“Dad—”
“Give it to me.””
She reluctantly handed it over.
He carried it inside.
Emma followed.
Victoria stood beside the staircase, watching them.
David set the bag down.
Then he looked at the framed photographs on the wall.
“You know what I don't understand?””
Victoria said nothing.
David pointed toward the hallway.
“She has been coming here her entire life. She has a key. Her clothes are in the upstairs closet.
Her childhood bedroom is here. Her mother's picture is in the hallway.””
He turned toward Victoria.
“So when exactly did this stop being her home?””
Victoria's eyes narrowed.
“After she stopped living here.””
David shook his head.
“No.””
He looked at Emma.
“It stopped being a house she lived in.””
Then he looked back at Victoria.
“It never stopped being home.””
Emma covered her mouth.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Victoria picked up her wineglass.
“If that's how you feel, David, maybe you and Emma should have the house.””
David's brow furrowed.
“What does that mean?””
Victoria smiled faintly.
“It means maybe you should ask yourself why you married me if you're still building your life around your daughter.””
She walked upstairs.
David watched her disappear.
Emma whispered, “Dad…”
He looked at her.
“I think she hates me.””
David shook his head.
“No.””
“She does.””
“No, sweetheart.””
“Then why would she say that?””
David didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
But upstairs, a bedroom door slammed.
And a moment later, David heard Victoria shouting from behind it.
“You have no idea what Emma has been hiding from you.””
David's face changed.
He looked at Emma.
“What does she mean?””
Emma's stomach dropped.
“I don't know.””
Then Victoria's voice came again.
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“She never told you the truth about why she left college, did she?””
Emma went white.
