“I’ve seen the picture from that day with your dad and Whitney,” she said to Bryce. “You told me your mother didn’t come.”
Bryce shifted.
“I don’t remember saying that.”
“You said she couldn’t be bothered.”
He looked toward his father.
I took a breath before speaking.
“I was there.”
Caroline set the photograph down carefully.
Next came the car documents.
“I co-signed. Bryce paid the loan. I’m not taking credit for buying it.”
Caroline looked at Whitney.
“You said you helped him get his first reliable car.”
“I helped him choose it.”
“That isn’t what I understood.”
Whitney lowered her eyes to the paperwork.
I put down the college payment confirmation, then the hospital statement and messages.
“The bill shows what I paid. The messages show when Victor and I spoke. I stayed at the hospital while Bryce had surgery.”
“I stayed with him when we got home,” Whitney said.
“I know. I’m not saying you didn’t.”
Caroline looked at Bryce again.
“You told me she held your hand before they took you in.”
His face colored.
“I was sixteen. I don’t remember every detail.”
“I do,” I said.
For the first time that evening, my voice wasn’t steady.
“He asked me to keep his phone charged because he didn’t want to miss a message from a girl at school. He was scared, but he didn’t want me to know. So we talked about the phone.”
I stopped.
I hadn’t planned to say that.
Whitney moved her cup an inch across the table and left her hand around it.
Victor spoke.
“Financial records don’t tell you what a family was like.”
“No,” I said. “They don’t. Neither does telling somebody I disappeared.”
“You were gone a lot.”
“I worked.”
“And Whitney was home.”
“I’ve acknowledged that. Why is it so hard for you to acknowledge I was there, too?”
He looked away.
Bryce leaned back in his chair.
“You always bring up how hard you worked.”
“Because you’ve been using it to explain why I didn’t matter.”
“That’s not what I said.”
Caroline turned toward him.
“You told me she chose not to have a relationship with you.”
“She had weekends.”
“And birthdays?” Caroline asked. “Holidays? Your graduation? College? Phone calls?”
He said nothing.
Judith spoke quietly.
“When we asked about inviting her to dinner, Victor said it would be awkward to include someone Bryce barely knew.”
I looked at Victor.
He adjusted the cuff of his shirt.
“I was trying to spare everybody an uncomfortable evening.”
“You could have spared me one by telling the truth.”
Bryce reached for Caroline’s hand.
She moved it to her lap.
“Why did you introduce her as a family friend?”
“I didn’t think we needed to get into all this at the party.”
“Did you think I’d never meet her again?”
“I thought I’d explain later.”
“When?”
He glanced at me.
I closed the folder, leaving the photograph on the table.
“I could have been difficult,” I said. “You could have told Caroline we weren’t close. If that was how you felt, we would have had a painful conversation about it. But you brought her over to shake my hand and let me think she knew who I was.”
Bryce swallowed.
“Dad said it would be simpler.”
Victor turned toward him.
“Don’t put this all on me.”