That afternoon my phone buzzed with texts coming through another thread, since Clare’s number wasn’t technically blocked on that account. She was writing in short bursts. Insurance denied the claim. Intentional submersion isn’t covered. Derek still owes eighty seven thousand dollars. The bank wants monthly payments on a car sitting at the bottom of a lake. We’re ruined, she wrote. Marcus, you have to help fix this. I read every message, then deleted the thread and went back to work. I had a recording session at three that afternoon.
That evening I opened my phone and found the family group chat sitting at forty seven unread messages. Aunt Linda had started it. Marcus destroyed Derek’s car over a guitar, she’d written. This is unforgivable. Uncle Tom piled on right after. A one hundred thousand dollar car over a guitar, he wrote. Marcus has lost his mind. Then cousin Sarah surprised me. Hold on, she wrote. Tyler destroyed Marcus’s eight thousand dollar guitar first. Derek told him to do it. Cousin Mike jumped in next. Derek has been acting superior for years, he wrote. About time someone checked him. Barbara tried to mediate. Everyone stop, she wrote. We need to heal as a family. Clare answered immediately. Heal, she wrote. Marcus destroyed our lives. Sarah fired right back. You mean like Tyler destroyed Marcus’s guitar. Uncle Tom again. A guitar is not the same as a one hundred thousand dollar car. Mike answered. Then maybe teach your nephew not to destroy expensive things. Aunt Linda tagged me directly. You’re tearing this family apart, she wrote.
