Chapter 12 - The Offer
Justin was offered a promotion.
The problem was that it required relocating to Seattle.
Three years earlier, Justin would probably have accepted first and discussed it with me afterward.
This time, he came home with the email unopened on his phone.
"We decide together."
Those three words meant more than he realized.
We spent days discussing it.
My career.
His opportunity.
Housing.
Weather.
Friends.
Family.
Eventually we decided against the move.
Justin loved the promotion.
But we loved the life we'd built more.
When Virginia heard, she went silent.
Old Chloe would have prepared for judgment.
Old Justin would have prepared to surrender.
Instead he said, "Mom, this is our decision."
Virginia inhaled.
Then surprised both of us.
"Okay."
Justin blinked.
"That's it?"
"What do you want, a parade?"
He laughed.
"No."
"Then okay."
Later, Virginia called me privately.
"I wanted to tell him he was making a mistake."
"I assumed."
"I didn't."
"I noticed."
"This is exhausting."
I laughed.
"Boundaries usually are at first."
There was a pause.
"Are you happy with the decision?"
"Yes."
"Then that's what matters."
I realized then that Virginia wasn't simply behaving differently around Justin.
She was changing.
Slowly.
Imperfectly.
But genuinely.
Our dinner confrontation had become family legend, though nobody mentioned the plate around Virginia.
Except Brenda.
Brenda mentioned it constantly.
At Christmas, she gave Virginia a decorative plate that said:
GUESTS COMPLIMENT THE COOK.
Virginia threatened to throw it away.
Instead she hung it in her kitchen.
Months passed.
Then one afternoon, Virginia called me.
Not Justin.
Me.
Her voice sounded strange.
"Chloe, I need your help."
I sat up.
"What happened?"
"My sister is coming."
"Brenda?"
"No."
That stopped me.
Virginia and Brenda had another sister, Margaret, whom I'd never met.
"She hasn't spoken to me in eleven years."
"Why?"
Virginia was silent.
Then she said something that made the entire story of our conflict look different.
May you like
"Because I did to her exactly what I did to you."
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