Chapter 10 - THE NEXT CAKE
Months later, Emily had another cake.
Smaller.
Chocolate.
No elaborate decorations.
She helped make it herself.
James stood beside her in the kitchen.
“Are you sure that’s enough frosting?”
Emily looked offended.
“There is no such thing.”
“Excellent answer.”
Serena remained part of their lives, but differently.
She and James had stepped back from their relationship while she worked through the patterns that had made Emily feel unsafe speaking.
Visits were slower.
Clearer.
No secrets.
No triangulation.
No telling adults what Emily supposedly felt before asking her.
When the cake was ready, Emily carried it toward the table.
She stopped.
James noticed.
“You okay?”
She looked at the cake.
Then at him.
“Yeah.”
He did not ask twice.
At the table, Emily cut the first slice.
Nobody watched her hands nervously.
Nobody hid anything in the kitchen.
Nobody needed a phone recording.
The smashed birthday cake had once seemed like the disaster.
It wasn’t.
The disaster was a child believing destruction was the only way to make adults pay attention.
This time Emily simply said, “Dad, look.”
May you like
James looked immediately.
And that was enough.
