Chapter 2 - THE RECEIPT NUMBER
I did not ask Clara another question in front of the family.
I wanted to. Every part of me wanted to rip the truth out of her right there under the lights.
Instead, I crouched beside Sofia.
“Where did you find this?”
“In Mommy Clara’s bathroom.”
Clara flinched at the title. Sofia had called her that for almost two years.
“Was it on the floor?”
Sofia nodded. “It fell out when she took the tummy off.”
Clara pushed through the circle of relatives. “Mateo, she misunderstood. Come inside with me.”
My sister stepped between us. “Maybe he should stay where there are witnesses.”
“Camila, stay out of my marriage.”
“Happy to,” Camila said. “As soon as your pregnancy stops involving theatrical supplies.”
Dad muttered her name in warning, but the damage was done.
Clara started crying.
That would have broken me any other night. I had held her through what I believed was morning sickness and canceled trips because she said the pregnancy was high-risk.
Now I held a piece of foam labeled like a prop.
“Why is tomorrow’s date on this?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“It’s in your handwriting.”
“It’s not.”
Sofia tugged my sleeve. “Daddy, there was a blue box too.”
Clara went still.
“What blue box?”
My daughter looked from me to Clara, suddenly unsure.
“The one under the towels.”
Clara took one step toward her.
I moved between them.
“Don’t.”
The single word stopped her.
I handed Sofia to my mother and walked inside with Camila behind me. Clara followed, saying my name over and over.
Upstairs, the bathroom looked perfect. No blue box. No straps. No foam.
But beneath the folded towels was a clean rectangular space in the dust.
Something had been there.
Camila crouched and picked up a tiny piece of paper near the cabinet.
It was a shipping label torn in half.
The visible line read:
STAGEFORM FX — AUSTIN, TX.
Under it was the same receipt number written on the foam.
I pulled out my phone.
“Mateo,” Clara said behind me, “if you make that call, you’re going to destroy us.”
May you like
I looked at her.
“What exactly am I about to find?”
