Chapter 12 - JOSH’S PHONE
Josh arrived at 6:08.
Emma ran upstairs the moment she realized both parents were in the same house.
That left Claire and Josh facing each other across the living room they had once picked furniture for together.
Claire put her phone on the coffee table.
“Did you photograph Emma’s Social Security card on Christmas Eve?”
Josh’s face changed before he answered.
“Yes.”
Claire stared at him.
“You didn’t even ask why I’m asking.”
“I know why.”
That hurt more than the yes.
“How long?”
“Claire.”
“How long have you known?”
He lowered himself onto the couch.
“Not everything.”
“How much?”
“Enough to know Tara was in trouble.”
Claire remained standing.
“Start with the picture.”
Josh rubbed both hands over his face.
“Your mom asked me.”
“What did she say?”
“She said she wanted to start some kind of college investment account for Emma.”
“You believed her?”
“It was Christmas Eve, Claire. She had paperwork everywhere. Your dad used to handle all of that stuff. She said she didn’t understand how to scan something from the little printer upstairs.”
“So you opened my firebox?”
“She knew where the key was.”
Claire laughed without humor.
“Of course she did.”
“I took the photo, sent it to Marlene, and deleted it.”
“Except your phone metadata stayed on the file.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t think to mention any of this after my sister stole Emma’s debit card?”
“I didn’t connect them.”
“You just said you knew why I asked.”
Josh stood.
“Because Tara called me in March.”
Claire went still.
“What?”
“She told me there had been a problem with a business loan.”
“And?”
“She said Emma’s information had gotten attached to it by mistake.”
Claire stared at him.
“By mistake.”
“I knew that sounded bad.”
“And you did what?”
“I paid three thousand dollars toward the balance.”
Claire’s hand tightened against the back of the chair.
“You paid them?”
“I thought it would help clean it up.”
“With whose permission?”
“Mine.”
“You weren’t the borrower.”
“I was trying to protect Emma.”
“No. You were helping them hide it.”
Josh’s face reddened.
“I was trying to keep it from turning into something that hurt her.”
“You mean something that hurt you.”
“What?”
“You didn’t tell me because you knew I would report it.”
“I didn’t tell you because you would have gone nuclear before anybody understood the situation.”
Claire smiled coldly.
“Interesting choice of words from the man who just admitted secretly paying a fraudulent loan.”
He walked toward the window.
“Emma knew Grandma was having money trouble.”
Claire froze.
“What?”
Josh looked back.
“She asked me not to make things worse.”
“Emma asked you?”
“She told me Grandma might lose the house.”
Claire felt the room tilt.
“When?”
“March.”
“Why would Emma know that?”
Josh hesitated.
“Ask her.”
Claire went to the stairs.
“Emma?”
A door opened upstairs.
Emma came down slowly.
She had changed into pajama shorts even though it was barely six-thirty.
Claire waited until she reached the bottom.
“Did Grandma tell you she might lose her house?”
Emma looked at Josh.
Josh said, “Tell Mom.”
Emma’s eyes filled.
“She called me.”
“When?”
“Before spring break.”
“What did she say?”
“She said Aunt Tara had messed up some money and the bank might take Grandpa’s house.”
Claire crouched.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Emma rubbed her thumb against the seam of her shorts.
“Because Grandma said you’d make everybody stop talking to each other.”
Claire’s throat tightened.
“Did she ask you for money?”
Emma looked down.
“Only two hundred dollars.”
Josh turned sharply.
“What?”
Claire stayed still.
“You gave Grandma money?”
Emma nodded.
“She said she’d put it back.”
“How?”
“She showed me where to click.”
Claire sat on the bottom stair.
Josh whispered, “Emma.”
Emma started crying then, quietly.
“I didn’t know Aunt Tara was doing all that other stuff.”
Claire pulled her close.
Josh sat beside them.
After a minute Emma wiped her face.
“Dad only knew about Grandma borrowing from me.”
Claire looked at Josh.
He nodded.
“That’s what she told me.”
Emma shook her head.
“That isn’t the thing I asked Dad to hide.”
Claire’s arms tightened around her.
“What did you ask him to hide?”
Emma looked toward the hallway.
May you like
“I found something in the account.”
And whatever Josh thought he had been protecting Claire from, his daughter had known there was something worse.
