Chapter 7: What Maisie Remembered
Maisie had woken up on the sofa to find her mother sitting beside her.
She had reached up and touched Naomi's face the way small children do when they are checking that something is real.
"You're still here," Maisie said.
"I'm still here."
Maisie was quiet for a moment.
Then: "Vanessa said you were going to move away.
To a different city.
And that's why you couldn't come to my school play."
Naomi kept her voice steady.
"I was at your school play, sweetheart.
I was in the third row."
Maisie frowned.
"Vanessa said you weren't coming.
She said it to Daddy on the phone."
Eleanor was in the doorway.
She had heard every word.
She picked up her phone.
"Maisie," Eleanor said gently.
"Do you remember when Vanessa said that?
Was it before the play or after?"
"Before." Maisie sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"She called Daddy when we were in the car.
I was in the back.
She said Naomi had told her she wasn't going to make it."
"Naomi told Vanessa that?"
"That's what Vanessa said." Maisie looked at her grandmother.
"But Mommy was there.
I saw her.
She waved at me from the seats."
Eleanor looked at Naomi.
Naomi had not moved.
Her face was completely still.
"She called Graham before the play," Naomi said quietly.
"To tell him I wasn't coming.
When she knew I was already on my way."
"So that when you arrived," Eleanor said, "Graham would already believe you'd been planning to miss it."
The two women looked at each other across the room.
"How many times," Naomi said.
Not a question.
A realization arriving slowly, like something heavy being set down.
Eleanor typed the text to Graham.
Set the phone down.
Looked at her granddaughter.
"Maisie," she said.
"Has Vanessa ever told you anything else about Mommy?
Anything that made you feel sad or worried?"
Maisie thought carefully.
The way she always did when she was trying to be accurate.
"She said Mommy has a new boyfriend and that's why she's always busy." Maisie looked at Naomi.
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No."
"That's what I thought." Maisie leaned against her mother's arm.
"I didn't believe that one."
Eleanor sat down across from them.
Her hands were folded on her knees.
Her expression was the kind that comes after a decision has already been made and what remains is simply the doing of it.
"Naomi," she said.
"I want to ask you something, and I want you to think carefully before you answer."
Naomi looked up.
"Do you have documentation?
Anything.
School attendance records.
Pickup logs.
The program from the school play.
Anything that shows a pattern of your presence in Maisie's life."
Naomi thought.
"I have everything.
I keep records for the custody schedule.
Dates, pickups, drop-offs, school events.
I have it all on my phone and backed up."
"Good." Eleanor nodded once.
"Because if Vanessa follows through on what she told Graham tonight, you are going to need every single one of them."
Naomi's head came up sharply.
"What did she tell Graham?"
Eleanor's phone buzzed on the table.
Graham's name on the screen.
She answered it on speaker.
His voice came through tight and clipped.
"She's threatening to file a formal complaint.
Says she has documented records of every concern she raised."
"So do we," Eleanor said.
"Come back to the house, Graham.
Now."
A pause.
"She's not going to let this go quietly," he said.
"No," Eleanor agreed.
May you like
"She isn't." She looked at Naomi across the table.
"But neither are we."
