PART 3 Patricia’s expression changed first. “Emily, stop!” she hissed. “You have no idea what you’re saying!” I kept talking. I gave the dispatcher our address. I described the slap, the fall, and what Patricia had said afterward. I told her that my husband and mother-in-law had arrived at the hospital and that Patricia was…

PART 3 That was the name they always brought up whenever they wanted me to feel guilty. My grandmother had been the one person in the family who never made me feel like an inconvenience. When I was younger, she used to sit with me on the wooden dock and tell me that a person’s…

PART 3 I slipped the old phone into my pocket and stood up. The floor creaked beneath my boots. A voice came from behind me. “Cole?” Shannon. She stood at the end of the hallway wearing yesterday’s clothes, her hair tangled, her eyes narrowed against the morning light. “What are you doing?” I ended the…

PART 3 Patricia’s expression changed first. “Emily, stop!” she hissed. “You have no idea what you’re saying!” I kept talking. I gave the dispatcher our address. I described the slap, the fall, and what Patricia had said afterward. I told her that my husband and mother-in-law had arrived at the hospital and that Patricia was…

PART 3 That was the name they always brought up whenever they wanted me to feel guilty. My grandmother had been the one person in the family who never made me feel like an inconvenience. When I was younger, she used to sit with me on the wooden dock and tell me that a person’s…

PART 3 I slipped the old phone into my pocket and stood up. The floor creaked beneath my boots. A voice came from behind me. “Cole?” Shannon. She stood at the end of the hallway wearing yesterday’s clothes, her hair tangled, her eyes narrowed against the morning light. “What are you doing?” I ended the…