Chapter 20
Mia asked to see Javier six months later.
Dante nearly dropped his coffee.
“Why?”
“One question.”
“Which question?”
“I’m not telling you.”
She was twelve and a half.
Old enough to recognize when adults asked for information because they needed it and when they asked because uncertainty made them uncomfortable.
Dr. Price approved one meeting.
Again, neutral office.
Again, Dante nearby.
Mia walked in carrying nothing.
Javier stood.
She did not invite him to sit.
He waited.
Eventually she sat first.
He followed.
Mia looked directly at him.
“Why did you push me?”
Javier had apologized in writing through counsel years earlier, though Mia chose not to read it.
Now the answer had to exist without preparation from her.
“You were trying to reach Leo.”
“I know.”
“I was trying to take the envelope.”
“I know.”
“I pushed you because you were in my way.”
Mia’s expression hardened.
“That’s it?”
Javier swallowed.
“Yes.”
“You didn’t think I would get hurt?”
“I wasn’t thinking about you at all.”
That hurt more.
Mia’s eyes filled.
Dante watched from the adjoining room and had to remain seated.
Javier continued.
“That is not an excuse. It’s the ugliest honest answer.”
Mia wiped one eye angrily.
“I thought maybe you hated me.”
“No.”
“That would almost be better.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Javier looked down.
“You’re right.”
She asked whether he remembered her falling.
“Yes.”
“Did you stop?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I was focused on Leo and the envelope.”
“So if Dad hadn’t come?”
Javier’s face changed.
“I don’t know.”
Mia stared.
“Everybody says they don’t know when the answer makes them look bad.”
“Sometimes.”
“What do you think you would’ve done?”
Javier took several seconds.
“I think I would have kept trying to take the envelope until I had it.”
Mia nodded.
That was what she came for.
Not comfort.
Not proof that Javier secretly remained a safe uncle beneath one terrible moment.
She wanted to know whether Dante’s arrival interrupted something that Javier would have stopped himself.
Probably not.
At the end, Javier asked:
“Do you want another meeting someday?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Pain crossed his face.
He did not hide it quickly enough.
Mia saw.
She did not change her answer.
“Okay.”
She stood.
Javier remained seated.
“Thank you for asking me directly.”
Mia looked at him.
“That wasn’t for you.”
“I know.”
Outside, Dante waited.
She walked into him and hugged him hard.
He held her.
“Home?”
“Yes.”
In the car she stared out the window for most of the drive.
Then said:
“I still don’t want him at the lake house.”
“Okay.”
“Leo can see him.”
“Okay.”
“You’re not going to tell me we should agree because we’re siblings?”
“No.”
“That seems suspiciously healthy.”
Dante laughed.
Mia smiled for the first time.
One family.
Two children.
Two different answers.
No committee.
No elder.
May you like
No tradition.
No father forcing those answers into one shape because sameness would make adults more comfortable.
