I knew exactly what she was waiting for.
Permission.
Or rescue.
Maybe both.
She didn’t say anything.
Neither did I.
Emmett looked between us.
Then he said:
“How much?”
Thea closed her eyes for a moment.
“Eight thousand.”
“Every month?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Three years.”
He looked at me.
“Where is it?”
I said nothing.
He asked again.
“Dad. Where is the money?”
And for the first time in ten years, I wished I had opened one of those envelopes.
The answer would have been easy.
It had been sitting underneath my bed the whole time.
But the truth was that I didn’t know.
Two days later, Emmett followed me to the pantry.
I didn’t know he was behind me.
He had been sitting in a car on the street since eight in the morning.
He hadn’t slept.
I could see it immediately.
I was standing in line with my cardboard box.
Bettina was behind me.
Her knees were hurting that morning.
The same man who never spoke to anyone was in front of me.
Then Emmett came through the door.
He walked past eleven people.
He came straight to me.
And he grabbed my wrist.
“Dad.”
I looked at him.
