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Tonya
Tonya was speechless. Was her daughter correct? Because if so, that meant Roy had been wrong.
Had Roy been mistaken? Or had he lied? He knew how much she loved Emma. Had he tried to use that to his advantage?
She’d never be able to prove it, and yet she knew it was true.
This knowledge changed everything.
Could she be a divorced single mom? What would that look like? Fear took over her whole body. She had to fight to draw breath. “How would we live, Emma? I don’t have a job.”
“You get a job!” Emma cried. “Lots of people get jobs, Mom! I’ll get a job! We can get help from the government!”
Tonya ripped her hands away from Emma’s. “I will never do that!”
Emma rolled her eyes. “You’d rather stay with a man who cheats on you and throws your daughter onto the couch?”
Tonya scowled. “Don’t act like your father abuses you. That was the first time he’s ever touched you. This is all very hard and very scary for him too.”
Emma groaned. “You can’t seriously be feeling sorry for him right now.”
No, she hadn’t been. Not at all. So why was she trying to get her daughter to feel sorry for him?
She didn’t know the answer to that.
“Fine. We won’t get government help. So we get help from the church.”
“What church?” her mother cried so loudly that Emma looked around.
“Where is Dad?”
“He went to the hospital.”
“Alone? You didn’t go with him?”
“He didn’t want me to.” Of course not. He’d probably picked up Alexis on the way so that she wouldn’t bail her son out. Roy Mendell: beloved pastor; manipulator extraordinaire.
“Mom, our church. I know our church has helped families before. I know it’s supposed to be all private, but kids talk. I know we buy heat and groceries for people all the time.”
“But if we left, it wouldn’t be our church anymore.”
“So we find a different church!” Emma appeared to be thrilled by this idea.
How was it that she, the adult in the conversation, was so efficiently failing at having an adult conversation?
Emma slid closer to her and forced eye contact. “Mom, you can do this. We get a small, cheap apartment. We find a new church. You get a job. You are smart. You can do anything.”
“But what about the church?” she said, ashamed of how weak she sounded.
“Mom, what about them? Dad created this mess, not you. And half the people are going to leave the church anyway.” She stood up.
Tonya looked up at her. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me.”
“But why do you say that?”
Emma folded her slender arms across her chest. “Because if I had my kids in a church where the pastor slept with some woman in the church, I would be going church shopping.” She turned away from her mother and walked toward the kitchen. “Where’s the church directory?”
“In the top desk drawer, but Emma, please don’t call Alexis.”
