showed up three weeks later as an exhibit in Grant’s custody petition.
I found out about the office building from a friend who still worked there. The building manager, a man named Clay Whitmore, played golf every Saturday at Cherokee Country Club. His regular partner was Grant Bellamy.
I couldn’t prove it. I had no way to prove any of it.
EzoicSo I kept working at the diner. I picked up extra shifts. I sold things on Facebook Marketplace. And I watched Grant turn every problem he’d caused into evidence
that I was a bad mother.
Part Three: The LocketChildren notice more than adults think.
One night in October, Nolan found me at the kitchen table surrounded by bills. Electric. Phone. A final notice from the water company. A letter from the school about a field trip I couldn’t afford.
He was supposed to be asleep. He stood in the doorway in his dinosaur pajamas, rubbing his eyes.
Ezoic“Mom,” he said. “Are we in trouble?”
I turned the papers over as fast as I could. I made myself smile.
