Page 31 of Deja New
“Thank God they locked him away, then. I feel safer already. Why didn’t you leave?”
“What?”
“You guys were fighting all the time about Dennis, why not pack us up and leave?”
“How can you ask that? I never would have left him. And he never would have left me.”
Angela started to reply when she suddenly had—not a recollection, exactly, but a piece of memory: her father standing in his bedroom doorway, holding a bulging suitcase.
Where didthatcome from?But the more she tried to pin it down, the faster it faded.
“You know what?” her mother was saying. “Never mind.” Her mother let go of the gown and held up her hands, palms out. “Forget I came in here. Forget we talked.” And just like that—poof. Meaningful, painful, long-overdue family discussion over. Exit Emma Drake.
Angela stared at the empty doorway for several seconds.
No, Mom, I won’t forget. That’s what you’ve been trying to do.
She got back to work.
