Chapter 9: Ten O'Clock
They arrived at nine fifty-eight.
Mavis came in first, which told me something.
She chose the seat at the head of the table again.
This time Ryan moved his coffee cup to that spot before she sat down, and she had to take the chair beside it.
A small thing.
She noticed.
His father, Gerald, sat across from her.
He looked older than the last time I'd seen him.
Not physically — something behind his eyes.
The look of a man who had spent the night sitting with things he couldn't put back.
Ryan and I sat together on the same side.
Mavis opened.
"I want to start by saying that everything I've done has been out of love for my son."
"We'll come back to that," Ryan said.
"First I want to talk about the house."
Her jaw tightened.
"That was two years ago."
"The survey report was fabricated.
You filed it in a folder with your handwriting on the tab.
Dad found the original." Ryan set a printed page on the table — the original survey his father had photographed and sent him the previous night.
"The house was fine.
We walked away from it because you told us it wasn't."
Mavis looked at the paper.
Didn't touch it.
"I had concerns about that area," she said.
"The area was four streets from Lauren's parents."
"I didn't think it was healthy for a young couple to be so close to—"
"You made that decision for us," Ryan said.
"Without telling us.
Using a document you created."
"I was protecting—"
"Stop saying that word." His voice didn't rise.
It dropped.
"You visited Lauren's parents without telling either of us and told them she wasn't suitable.
You destroyed ninety-six invitations and called it a mishap.
You contacted her ex-boyfriend — or he contacted you — and you used private messages as a threat.
And two years ago, you fabricated a surveyor's report to stop us from buying a home." He looked at her steadily.
"That is not protection.
Tell me what it actually is."
Mavis was quiet for a moment.
Then she looked at me.
"You took my son," she said.
Quietly.
Without the warmth or the strategy.
Just the thing underneath.
"He was mine and you took him."
The table was very still.
Gerald closed his eyes briefly.
"Mavis," he said.
"Listen to what you just said."
"It's true." Her voice didn't waver.
"Before her, he called me every day.
He came home on weekends.
He asked my opinion.
He included me." She looked at Ryan.
"You stopped needing me.
And she's the reason."
"I grew up," Ryan said.
"That's not something she did to you.
That's something that was always going to happen."
"Not like this.
Not this fast.
Not this completely."
"Mom." Ryan's voice was careful now.
Not cold — careful.
Like he was handling something that could break.
"I love you.
That has not changed.
But I am going to marry Lauren.
That is not a negotiation.
And the things you've done — the house, the invitations, all of it — those have consequences.
Not because I want to punish you.
Because actions have consequences and you need to understand that."
Mavis looked at him for a long moment.
May you like
"What consequences?" she said.
Ryan reached into the folder on the table beside him.
