“Grandma said you’d ruin the party if anyone mentioned Emma,” he said quietly.
“She said you were too broken to be normal.”
The kitchen went still.
Mom rose so quickly the gift bag slipped from her lap.
“Tyler, that is not what I said.”
“You said Aunt Steph makes everything sad.
You said Dad deserved the house because he gave you a real family.”
Mike grabbed Tyler’s shoulder.
“Enough.”
Tyler pulled away.
That small movement broke something open.
He was still responsible for his cruelty, but I could see the machinery behind it now: praise when he mocked me, silence when he crossed a line, and adults who fed him their resentment because they enjoyed hearing it in a younger voice.
Tyler looked at me once more.
“I’m sorry about the soda.”
It was not a grand apology.
It did not erase anything.
But there was no smirk this time.
