Chapter 20 - A Floor Nobody Had to Earn
I stepped aside. Maya put the key in the lock, turned it once, and pushed open the door. She stood still on the welcome mat. I didn't hurry her.
The entryway smelled faintly of fresh paint. Her old coat hooks were there, lower than the ones Tiffany preferred. The marble had a few muddy paw prints where Ruth's dog had visited. I almost apologized for them, then stopped.
Maya noticed.
"You're not going to make me clean those?"
"No. I'll wipe them later. Or maybe I won't."
She smiled, tentative at first. Then she walked in, carrying her violin case and the crooked-lighthouse mystery novel, now bent at the spine. She wandered through the living room. When she reached the kitchen, she set the book on the counter and opened the cabinet where we kept plates.
"Can I have a cinnamon roll?" she asked.
"You can have two."
"That's bad nutrition advice."
"Your mother says the same thing."
We sat at the island, eating rolls warm from the oven. Icing dripped onto the countertop. Maya tried to catch it with her napkin, then stopped herself. She waited.
"It's fine," I said. "Eat your roll."
She let the drop stay there.
Months earlier, I'd arrived home at 4:35 with a box of pastries and a head full of work. I'd watched my twelve-year-old scrub the floor while four adults drank wine, and I'd almost believed the first person who told me it was normal. I couldn't undo that afternoon. I could refuse to let it become the rest of her childhood.
Kelly called while we were finishing. Maya answered, held the phone between us, and told her we'd come back to the house. There was no performance in her voice. She wanted to talk about orchestra, a math quiz, and the mystery book's ending.
When the call ended, Maya put her head against my shoulder.
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"I still get worried when people come over."
"I know. We can make a plan. You get to say when you've had enough."
"What if I say it and somebody gets mad?"
"Then the adult deals with being mad. You don't have to scrub the floor to make their feelings go away."
May you like
She sat with that for a while. Then she took another bite and left a second drop of icing beside the first.
The kitchen was messy. My daughter was safe. And for once, nothing needed to be cleaned before we could be together.
