Chapter 12 - Vanessa Finally Faces Maya
Vanessa asked to speak to Maya.
Marcus refused at first.
Then Maya surprised him.
“I want to.”
The conversation happened with a family therapist present.
Vanessa looked smaller than Maya remembered her.
She apologized for the shoes.
Maya shook her head.
“Not just the shoes.”
Vanessa began crying.
Maya asked why she had said Elena got tired of her.
Vanessa struggled.
“Because I was jealous.”
Marcus watched Maya’s face.
“Of me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your dad loves you in a way that doesn’t have to be earned.”
Maya thought about that.
Then said something Vanessa never expected.
“You could have loved me too.”
Vanessa covered her face.
Maya did not comfort her.
She did not forgive her that day.
May you like
But she walked out holding Marcus’s hand instead of wondering whether
she had caused the adults around her to leave.
