“Let him finish,”
Beth lowered her eyes.
“I kept asking her to take it because telling Mom to stop was harder.”
“I have always looked after you,” Mom jabbed the tabletop with her finger. “Everything I’ve done…”
“You raised me. I love you, Mom. But that doesn’t give you the right to treat Laura that way.”
“So we’re all supposed to approve of her embarrassing me?”
“Everything I’ve done…”
“I’m ashamed of what the video shows me doing. I’m not asking her to hide it.”
My hands were shaking. I set my glass down before anyone noticed.
“I started telling a story to an empty room this week,” I confessed. “I miss talking to her. I want her home, but I can’t ask her to come back to the same thing.”
Mom shook her head.
I kept going.
I confessed.
“I’ve been a bad husband to her. Please stop calling her on Mom’s behalf. If you want to know why she left, ask me.”
