Chapter 2 - AFTER TODAY
Jason grabbed for the phone.
Sarah stepped between him and Miles.
“Don’t.”
“It’s my phone.”
“And that’s our son.”
Linda wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Sarah, stop making a scene.”
Sarah laughed once, sharp and humorless.
“You threw a dirty towel in my face in front of twenty people.”
“You attacked me.”
“You planned this.”
Jason’s brother, Mark, shifted uncomfortably.
Aunt Denise stared at Linda. “What does the boy mean by ‘gone after today’?”
“No idea,” Linda said too quickly.
Sarah took the phone from Miles.
The screen was open to a text thread labeled MOM.
The latest message from Jason sat near the bottom.
TODAY HAS TO WORK. PUSH HER UNTIL SHE LOSES IT. ONCE SHE PUTS HANDS ON YOU, I’LL HANDLE THE REST.
Sarah’s stomach dropped.
Linda: AND THE HOUSE?
Jason: IF SHE’S REMOVED, WE FILE MONDAY. RAY SAYS THE TEMP ORDER WILL BE ENOUGH.
“Who’s Ray?”
“Give me the phone.”
MAKE SURE PEOPLE ARE THERE. WITNESSES MATTER.
The relatives who had looked embarrassed now looked afraid.
Sarah understood the gathering at once.
“You wanted me to hit her,” Sarah whispered.
Jason’s jaw tightened. “You did.”
“You set me up.”
Linda raised her chin. “Nobody made you put your hands on me.”
Sarah looked around the room.
Two cousins suddenly found the carpet fascinating.
Someone near the dining room quietly picked up a purse.
Jason held out his hand.
“Phone. Now.”
Sarah kept scrolling.
PETITION FOR EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE ORDER.
Underneath, in typed language, Jason claimed Sarah had become “increasingly unstable,” had threatened him, frightened Miles, and created an unsafe home.
The document was dated three days earlier.
Before Sarah had touched Linda.
A custody request.
Sarah’s lungs forgot how to work.
“You already wrote the lie,” she said.
Jason did not answer.
Then Miles pointed at the screen.
“There’s another picture, Mommy.”
Sarah swiped.
May you like
It was a deed to the house.
And someone had signed Sarah’s name.
