Preferably ashamed.
Preferably convinced the house was hers.
I looked at Claire.
“You wanted me to abandon it.”
She began crying.
I had seen Claire cry hundreds of times.
At funerals.
Movies.
When our dog died.
When we lost the baby.
These tears did nothing to me.
“You knew the house wasn’t ours to divide.”
“I was trying to protect myself.”
“By forging my signature?”
“I didn’t know what else to do!”
Derek stepped between us.
“Back off.”
Rebecca actually laughed.
Everyone looked at her.
“Derek,” she said, “you may want to stop speaking.”
He pointed at me.
“This
whole thing is because of him. Claire told me he controlled all the money.”
I looked at Claire.
“Did you?”
She whispered, “You did.”
