Chapter 10 - The Magenta Dress On The Floor
I heard her before I saw her that evening. Mom's heels clicked down the hallway, then stopped. Then the soft thump of a closet door, and a huff that wasn't quite words.
I was sitting on the floor of my room with my back against the bed. My sneakers were by the door, still a little damp around the seams. Daniel had told me to stay put while he showered, but the house felt too quiet to stay in one place.
When I stepped into the hallway, Mom's bedroom door was open. The magenta dress was on the floor.
It wasn't hung up. It wasn't draped over the chair the way she usually left nice clothes after a party so they wouldn't wrinkle. It was just tossed, half inside-out, one long sleeve twisted, the strappy heels kicked over beside it. She was standing in her sweats and socks, pulling open dresser drawers.
She didn't notice me at first. She checked under a folded sweater, then shoved the drawer shut and opened the next one.
"What are you looking for?" I asked.
She jumped a little. "Ethan. Hey, honey. Nothing. Did you see a little box? The brown one from the party?"
I shook my head. My chest got tight.
She tried to smile at me but it didn't reach her eyes. "It would have been in a little gift bag. Maybe Daniel brought it inside and set it somewhere."
She walked past me into Daniel's room without knocking. Daniel wasn't there yet, the bathroom water was still running. She started scanning his desk, his dresser top, the nightstand. She lifted his laundry hamper lid.
"Mom," I said quietly, standing in his doorway. "That's Daniel's stuff."
"I know, sweetheart. I just need to find it. Richard asked me to bring it by tomorrow. It was his grandmother's ring, Ethan. It's important to him."
The way she said important made my stomach turn. I thought about the grass by the lake, how cold the water had been on my ankles when he'd told me to go closer and look.
Daniel came down the hall then with a towel around his neck, hair still wet, wearing a plain t-shirt and sweatpants. He stopped when he saw us both in his doorway.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Mom turned fast. "Daniel, where did you put the jewelry box? The one from Saturday?"
Daniel looked at me, then at her. His face didn't change much, but I saw his jaw tighten.
"It's put away," he said.
Mom let out a breath. "Good. Can I have it? Richard's been calling me about it."
"No," Daniel said. It was calm, not loud. "Not right now."
Her hands tightened at her sides. "Daniel, don't do this. That's not yours to hold onto. Richard had a plan for that evening. It was supposed to be special."
"Yeah," Daniel said. "I know what his plan was."
He reached for his phone on the dresser. Mom watched him, confused. He tapped a couple times and then held it out toward her.
"I wasn't going to show you like this," he said, quieter now. "But you need to see it before you give anything back to him."
Mom frowned and took the phone. I moved closer so I could see too, even though I'd already seen Daniel watch it twice with his headphones on.
The video was shaky, taken from near the house. You could see the string lights and the white chairs and the lake behind them. You could see me standing near the water's edge, wet already up to my knees, and Richard in his navy blazer standing three feet behind me, not looking at me, looking toward the tables. You could see him wave his hand, flicking his fingers toward the grass right at the edge. You could see me take another step because he told me to.
You could hear someone at the party laugh, just a quick sound, and then the splash.
Mom's hand started to shake. She didn't say anything. Daniel didn't pause it. It kept going and you saw Daniel run, you saw him pull me out, you saw the overturned glasses. But Mom kept rewinding that first five seconds, that flick of Richard's hand.
She stared at it and her breathing got shallow.
"He told me you slipped," she whispered. "He said you were playing by the water and you slipped."
"He sent me to get it," I said before I could stop myself. My voice was small. "He said the box fell and I should grab it quick so you wouldn't see."
Daniel put a hand on my shoulder. He didn't look away from Mom.
Mom's eyes filled fast. She pressed her lips together and shook her head like she could shake the image off the screen.
"He wouldn't..." she started, then stopped. Her thumb hovered over the play button again. "He said it was an accident. He said he dropped it and you... oh my God."
She sank down onto the edge of Daniel's bed like her legs gave out. The phone was still lit in her hands. She wasn't crying loud, just tears coming and a hand over her mouth.
"He risked you for a prop," she whispered. She wasn't talking to us, really. She was talking to herself. "He risked you so he could do it perfectly on the lawn."
Daniel knelt a little so he was closer to her level. "I didn't want to keep this from you. But I wasn't going to let him have that box back until you knew."
May you like
Mom didn't answer right away. She stared at the magenta dress crumpled on the floor of her room across the hall, and then down at the video frozen on my sneakers at the water's edge.
She didn't say she was leaving him. She didn't say it was over. She just sat there holding the phone, and for the first time that week she looked like she believed what had actually happened to me.
