Chapter 2 - “SHE’S BULLYING ME!”Naomi did not sleep.
Neither did Graham.
They argued quietly in the kitchen after Eli went to his room.
Graham stood with both hands against the counter.
“You hit him.”
Naomi sat across from him.
“I know.”
“You keep saying that like it makes it better.”
“It doesn’t.”
“He’s fourteen.”
“I know his age.”
“You’re an adult.”
“Yes.”
“What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t. That’s the problem.”
Graham turned away.
Naomi watched him.
“I’m not asking you to excuse me.”
“Then what are you asking?”
“To listen to the rest.”
“I already heard.”
“No. You heard the part that happened when you came through the door.”
Graham shook his head.
“There is no context where hitting Eli is okay.”
Naomi’s voice stayed calm.
“I agree.”
That stopped him.
She continued:
“But there is context for why we were arguing.”
“The cigarette.”
“Yes.”
“Which I didn’t see.”
“I did.”
“Eli says there wasn’t one.”
“And I’m telling you there was.”
Graham looked uncomfortable.
“Maybe you saw something else.”
Naomi stared.
“A white cigarette and a black lighter?”
“He says you came in angry.”
“I came home early.”
“He said you immediately started accusing him.”
“I asked for what was in his hand.”
Graham rubbed his forehead.
Naomi felt something inside her sink.
“You believe him.”
“I believe what I saw.”
“No.”
She stood.
“You believe the version that lets you protect him without asking him anything difficult.”
Graham’s eyes sharpened.
“That’s unfair.”
“Is it?”
“He’s my son.”
“And I’m not asking you to stop being his father.”
“You’re talking like this is some pattern.”
“It is.”
Graham laughed incredulously.
“What pattern?”
“Every time Eli and I disagree, you decide that because I’m the stepmother, I must be the one pushing too hard.”
“That is not true.”
“Last month he skipped tutoring.”
“He was tired.”
“He lied about where he was.”
“He went to basketball.”
“He said school library.”
Graham paused.
Naomi continued.
“When he failed his science assignment because he didn’t submit it, you told me not to lecture him because he was stressed.”
“He was.”
“When he called me a bitch last fall—”
“He apologized.”
“After you told me he was still grieving his parents’ breakup.”
“He is.”
“He was six when you separated.”
“That doesn’t mean it disappeared.”
“No.”
Naomi softened.
“But grief cannot become immunity.”
Graham looked away.
Naomi knew why.
Guilt.
Graham carried it like a second skeleton.
His relationship with Tessa had collapsed badly when Eli was small. Graham became the primary parent. Tessa moved away, appeared irregularly, then disappeared from daily routines almost completely.
Graham believed Eli had already lost one parent.
So he tried never to become the second person who disappointed him.
It sounded loving.
But sometimes it meant Graham refused to let Eli feel consequences.
Naomi had noticed.
She had not known how deep.
Graham spoke after a while.
“I’m not letting you turn this into my parenting failure tonight.”
“I’m not.”
“You hit him.”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s tonight.”
Naomi nodded.
“Fine.”
She walked toward stairs.
Graham:
“Where are you going?”
“Guest room.”
“Naomi.”
She stopped.
“I’m not leaving the marriage.”
“I didn’t say—”
“But I’m not sleeping next to you while you look at me like I’m dangerous and won’t even ask your son whether he had a cigarette.”
Graham said nothing.
Upstairs, Eli sat on bed looking at his phone.
A message waited.
MOM: How did it go?
Eli typed:
Bad. Naomi caught me.
Three dots.
MOM: Did your dad see?
Eli: He saw her slap me.
Long pause.
Then:
MOM: Oh my God. Are you okay?
Eli’s eyes watered.
He typed:
Yeah. Dad believed me.
Tessa replied quickly.
Of course he did. You’re his son.
Then another.
Don’t let Naomi twist this.
Eli looked toward door.
His cheek barely hurt anymore.
What hurt was the memory of Naomi’s face after the slap.
Not anger.
Regret.
He hated that.
It would have been easier if she looked cruel.
He wrote:
She said I had a cigarette.
Tessa:
Did you?
Eli paused.
No.
He stared at lie.
Then sent.
Tessa replied:
Then don’t back down.
Eli put phone away.
For the first time that evening, guilt pressed against his chest.
But beneath it was something stronger.
Relief.
May you like
His father had chosen him.
Just as Eli knew he would.
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