Chapter 5 - Parents Arrive
Ashley called Dad before she left my kitchen.
I didn’t stop her.
By early afternoon, both of my parents were at my house. Mom arrived already upset, telling me we needed to handle this carefully because Emma was involved and the family had been through enough.
Dad was quieter.
I gave him the certified letter.
He read the release once, then went back to the signature page and read it again.
“Ashley,” he said, “did you sign this?”
She tried to explain before answering.
Dad repeated the question.
“Did you sign it?”
Ashley finally said, “I filled it out.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
She stared at him. “Yes.”
Mom sat down at my kitchen table.
The night before, she had called me vindictive because I refused to keep paying for optional camps after Emma destroyed Noah’s cake and laughed while he cried.
Now she was looking at a form showing that the same family reflex—protect Emma first, minimize what happened to Noah second—had gone far beyond cake.
Ashley began crying then, but even that didn’t soften the thing she wanted from me.
She wanted me to call the insurance office back and describe the signature as a misunderstanding.
She said she would withdraw the deposit instructions. She said she would cover Emma’s summer plans herself somehow. She even said Emma would apologize to Noah for the cake.
Everything was suddenly negotiable, as long as I made the paper problem disappear.
I said no.
Ashley stared at me. “You’re really going to do this to your own sister?”
I kept my voice level. “I’m going to tell them which documents I signed and which ones I didn’t. That’s all.”
May you like
Dad nodded once.
Mom didn’t.
