The next Thanksgiving the chair was not set. Vanessa noticed and said nothing. Nothing was the quieter right. Patrice cut the pie before grace, a small rebellion, so the pie would not become a symbol again. People ate. The game was on. Kids ran. Derrick said grace short. The short included no names and no lies. Patrice could live with short. Short was a table that knew. Dayton had its own plate. The money still went on the first. The first was on the calendar now, written, not hidden. Written was the repair. It was not warm. It was true. True was the only grace she wanted that year.
Lorraine had kept the divorce papers in a envelope under the towels. The support order was clipped to them. She had not needed to wave it. Derrick paid. Paying was his apology in a envelope. She had wanted a sentence at his new table and had stopped wanting it out loud when Imani was ten and tired of being a almost. Almost-visits. Almost-holidays. A graduation he left. Lorraine told herself the money was the adult version. Then a wife called who had not known. Lorraine was angry at the not-known and respectful of the call. Both. She told Imani both. Imani said, “She sounded like she was not going to cry on me.” Lorraine said, “She did not.” That was the review. They could live with a review.
Patrice learned Imani’s school from the carbons and did not drive past it. Driving past was a hunger. She was not hungry for a parking lot. She was hungry for a ledger that matched the mouth. The mouth had matched, late. Late was the scar. She told June the scar. June said scars are not chairs. Patrice said I know. They walked a store and did not buy a pie. Pies were contaminated for a month. Then Patrice bought one and cut it the same day, so it could be a pie. June ate a slice standing. Standing was allowed. The chair was not set. That was the rule of the new year.
Derrick called Imani on the birthday and also on a random Sunday because Patrice said random was more honest than a ritual he had used as a minimum. Imani answered. She talked four minutes about a class. He listened. Listening was new. He did not ask to come. Not asking was the coat rule extended. Patrice, in the next room, did not eavesdrop on purpose and heard the tone. The tone was careful. Careful was a start. She did not score it. She washed the birthday card she had not signed. Unsigned was correct. The card was his. The wife was not a signature on a daughter she had not raised.