I heard the teenager exhale slowly, a sound of relief mixing with anxiety.
“I wasn’t trying to spy,” she said quickly. “I just… I heard them. He didn’t know I was there. And I know what he said was wrong. My mom—she told me to ignore it. She said, ‘That’s just how men talk sometimes when women aren’t around.’ But that was just… cruel.”
“You did the right thing. Truly,” I said. “You’ve known my kids for three years. You’ve been kinder to them than he ever was.”
After we hung up, I listened to the recording once again. I needed to know exactly what Oliver thought of us, needed to hear it with complete clarity so that I could never second-guess what I was about to do.
His voice came through, confident and careless.
“Almost, Mom. She’s weird about paperwork. But after the wedding? She’ll do whatever I say, I promise. Especially with those freak kids of hers…”
I closed my eyes and let the words settle.
