We left for Lake Erie shortly after sunrise.<\/p>\n
Alyssa drove the first hour while I held two coffees between my knees and watched Ohio flatten beyond the passenger window. Neither of us had slept well. The lake house had spent decades buried beneath other memories, and knowing Dad deliberately preserved it made the place feel less like property than a sentence he had left unfinished.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you remember the porch?\u201d Alyssa asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarely.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe railing was green.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely green.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was blue when I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
She glanced at me.<\/p>\n
Then we both understood.<\/p>\n
Dad may have repainted it between our childhoods.<\/p>\n
The disagreement was small, almost ridiculous, yet it represented our entire relationship. We had grown up believing our memories competed. If my version was true, hers had to be false. If Dad loved one of us in a certain room, there must have been less love available for the other.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate that I immediately wanted to prove you wrong,\u201d Alyssa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was preparing evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
She smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cProgress.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLimited progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lake appeared beyond the trees two hours later, gray beneath a low September sky. Dad\u2019s property sat at the end of a narrow road lined with cottonwoods. The cottage was smaller than I remembered, weathered cedar siding under a dark roof, with the porch facing the water.<\/p>\n
The railing was green.<\/p>\n
Alyssa looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI said nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour face did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then I saw blue paint beneath a chipped section near the steps.<\/p>\n
I pointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorical vindication.\u201d<\/p>\n
She laughed, and for several seconds we were simply sisters arriving somewhere familiar.<\/p>\n
Mr. Bennett had given us the key.<\/p>\n
The lock resisted before opening with a hard metallic click.<\/p>\n
Inside, the air smelled of closed rooms, wood, and the faint mineral scent of the lake. Dust covered the furniture, but the house had not been abandoned. Someone had maintained it. The electricity worked. The plumbing had been winterized and reopened annually. Dad had apparently paid a caretaker.<\/p>\n
Alyssa walked into the living room.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n
She touched a stone fireplace.<\/p>\n
I remembered it too.<\/p>\n
Dad had once let me roast marshmallows there during a storm because the rain ruined our planned campfire.<\/p>\n
For years I believed that memory belonged to a version of Dad that disappeared when Vivian arrived.<\/p>\n
Then Alyssa said, \u201cDad used to let me sleep on the rug in front of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Same room.<\/p>\n
Different daughter.<\/p>\n
Same father.<\/p>\n
I waited for jealousy.<\/p>\n
It came.<\/p>\n
Smaller than before.<\/p>\n
Recognizable now.<\/p>\n
I let it pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he tell you the ghost story?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fisherman with one boot?\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got that too?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single time.\u201d<\/p>\n
We laughed.<\/p>\n
Dad had recycled material.<\/p>\n
Somehow that comforted me.<\/p>\n
We opened windows.<\/p>\n
Cold air moved through the cottage.<\/p>\n
On the kitchen counter sat an envelope in a plastic sleeve.<\/p>\n
CANDACE AND ALYSSA.<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s handwriting.<\/p>\n
Alyssa looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich makes me suspicious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside was a short note.<\/p>\n
Dad instructed us to make coffee, walk to the dock, and return only after we had stayed there long enough to remember something good.<\/p>\n
I stared at the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s bossy for a dead man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyssa read over my shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could ignore it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you want to?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
We made terrible instant coffee from supplies the caretaker had left.<\/p>\n
Then we walked down the narrow path.<\/p>\n
The dock creaked beneath us.<\/p>\n
Wind pushed small waves against the posts.<\/p>\n
I sat at the edge.<\/p>\n
Alyssa remained standing for a moment before lowering herself beside me.<\/p>\n
Neither spoke.<\/p>\n
I remembered Dad teaching me to fish.<\/p>\n
I hated touching worms.<\/p>\n
He pretended worms enjoyed fishing because they got to travel.<\/p>\n
At six, I believed him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI caught my first fish here,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBluegill?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad acted like it was enormous?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
We smiled.<\/p>\n
Another shared pattern.<\/p>\n
Alyssa pulled her coat tighter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought this place was mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot legally.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stared across the lake.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmotionally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we came here when I was little, and nobody talked about you.\u201d<\/p>\n
That hurt.<\/p>\n
She continued before I could respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cI assumed that meant you had never been part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI came every summer until I was nine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was maybe eight, I found initials under the dock.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse shifted.<\/p>\n
\u201cC.H.?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered carving them with Dad\u2019s pocketknife.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Vivian say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat they belonged to one of Dad\u2019s cousins.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believed her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were eight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked believing her.\u201d<\/p>\n
That distinction mattered.<\/p>\n
Alyssa rubbed her thumb along a crack in the wood.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven then, I think I knew there had been someone before me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid that bother you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTerribly.\u201d<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Dad got quiet whenever your name came up.\u201d<\/p>\n
I had never considered what his silence looked like from Alyssa\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought quiet meant love,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt probably did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI hated that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The admission was soft.<\/p>\n
Honest.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot because I hated you yet. I barely knew you. But I could tell there was a room inside Dad that belonged to you, and I couldn\u2019t get into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared across the lake.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, I had spent years believing Alyssa occupied every room.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought you had all of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought you had the part I couldn\u2019t reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
We sat with that.<\/p>\n
Two children measuring scarcity where there should never have been a competition.<\/p>\n
When we returned to the cottage, we found the next instruction beneath the coffee tin.<\/p>\n
Upstairs. Back bedroom. Top shelf.<\/p>\n
\u201cScavenger hunt,\u201d Alyssa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI complained about that yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were right.\u201d<\/p>\n
The back bedroom had once been mine.<\/p>\n
Then apparently hers.<\/p>\n
A faded quilt covered the bed.<\/p>\n
On the top closet shelf sat two cardboard boxes.<\/p>\n
One labeled CANDACE.<\/p>\n
The other ALYSSA.<\/p>\n
We stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeparate boxes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery diplomatic.\u201d<\/p>\n
We carried them downstairs.<\/p>\n
Mine contained photographs.<\/p>\n
School drawings.<\/p>\n
A broken bracelet.<\/p>\n
A shell from some beach I could not remember.<\/p>\n
A report card.<\/p>\n
A note I wrote Dad at seven announcing I intended to become a veterinarian despite being afraid of dogs.<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
Alyssa leaned over.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were ambitious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was delusional.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her box held similar things.<\/p>\n
Dance programs.<\/p>\n
A ribbon.<\/p>\n
Birthday cards.<\/p>\n
A clay handprint.<\/p>\n
Nothing about the objects suggested one daughter mattered more.<\/p>\n
They were ordinary artifacts of attention.<\/p>\n
Dad had kept both.<\/p>\n
At the bottom of my box lay photographs I had never seen.<\/p>\n
Dad and me at the lake.<\/p>\n
Dad brushing my hair badly.<\/p>\n
Mom laughing behind us.<\/p>\n
Dad asleep in a hammock while I placed leaves on his shirt.<\/p>\n
I touched the edges.<\/p>\n
Then Alyssa found a photograph in her box.<\/p>\n
Dad holding her as a baby.<\/p>\n
Vivian beside him.<\/p>\n
I braced instinctively.<\/p>\n
Then I noticed something.<\/p>\n
Dad was looking at Alyssa with tenderness.<\/p>\n
Not guilt.<\/p>\n
Not obligation.<\/p>\n
Love.<\/p>\n
The DNA result did not change that photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loved you,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Alyssa stared at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I touched the picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean before he knew anything about biology, after he knew, through all of it. Whatever else happened, this was real.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes filled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need my permission.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
She wiped her face.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt still matters hearing you say it.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the bottom of each box was another envelope.<\/p>\n
The instructions told us to exchange them.<\/p>\n
I gave Alyssa hers.<\/p>\n
She handed me mine.<\/p>\n
Dad had written separate letters.<\/p>\n
Mine began with an apology.<\/p>\n
Not another explanation.<\/p>\n
He wrote that if I was reading it at the lake house with Alyssa, then the truth had probably done what truth often does before it heals anything: made everyone angrier.<\/p>\n
Accurate.<\/p>\n
He said the boxes were not meant to prove equal love.<\/p>\n
Love could not be audited through photographs.<\/p>\n
They were meant to show that neither daughter\u2019s childhood erased the other\u2019s.<\/p>\n
I stopped reading.<\/p>\n
That sentence reached somewhere the legal documents could not.<\/p>\n
I looked at Alyssa.<\/p>\n
She was crying over her own letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does yours say?\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou first.\u201d<\/p>\n
I continued.<\/p>\n
Dad wrote that after I left, he sometimes brought my box to the living room and went through it.<\/p>\n
Once, Alyssa caught him.<\/p>\n
My eyes lifted.<\/p>\n
She was staring at her page.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou remember?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow old?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFourteen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
She swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked whose box it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
That surprised me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI got angry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s letter described it too.<\/p>\n
Alyssa accused him of loving a daughter who had abandoned him more than the daughter still there.<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Alyssa looked ashamed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was fourteen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI said worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him maybe you stayed away because you didn\u2019t love him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words hurt.<\/p>\n
Not because fourteen-year-old Alyssa said them.<\/p>\n
Because Dad had heard them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her mouth trembled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said you had more reason to stay away than I understood.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe defended me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Vivian hear?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told him not to fill my head with adult problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
Dad obeyed.<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
But something had happened.<\/p>\n
Alyssa continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cLater that night, Mom came into my room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Dad felt guilty because your mother had turned you against him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
Every time Dad allowed one crack in the narrative, Vivian plastered over it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you believed her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyssa shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could have questioned things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt fourteen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI questioned plenty when it suited me.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was fair.<\/p>\n
But I would not let her rewrite childhood guilt into adult responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou became responsible later,\u201d I said. \u201cNot then.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s letter to Alyssa apparently said something similar.<\/p>\n
He told her he regretted letting her believe being loved required winning.<\/p>\n
He wrote that she had been encouraged to treat me as a rival long before she was mature enough to understand what rivalry meant.<\/p>\n
But he also refused to absolve her adult cruelty.<\/p>\n
Alyssa read one line aloud.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstanding where you learned a weapon does not excuse continuing to use it after you see whom it cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n
She wiped her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds like Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wrote that after the funeral challenge, didn\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew I would challenge you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew it was possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
She folded the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he set this up anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe may have hoped the challenge would finally expose everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyssa looked toward the boxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing me as the trigger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked surprised by my agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe should have told you himself while he was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe should not have left you to detonate the truth after his death.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
We were becoming good at allowing love and criticism to coexist.<\/p>\n
The next envelope was hidden beneath the fireplace mantel.<\/p>\n
Inside were copies of two photographs.<\/p>\n
One showed me at approximately seven.<\/p>\n
The other showed Alyssa at approximately seven.<\/p>\n
Both were taken on the same section of dock.<\/p>\n
Both showed Dad crouched beside us holding a fish.<\/p>\n
Same ridiculous proud grin.<\/p>\n
Same arm around a daughter.<\/p>\n
Alyssa laughed through tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really reused everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently fatherhood had a template.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the back, Dad had written:<\/p>\n
You were never replacements for each other.<\/p>\n
I stared at those words.<\/p>\n
That was what Vivian\u2019s entire family structure had taught us.<\/p>\n
Replacement.<\/p>\n
Mom replaced by Vivian.<\/p>\n
Me replaced by Alyssa.<\/p>\n
Dad replaced by biology.<\/p>\n
Love replaced by inheritance.<\/p>\n
Every relationship treated like a chair someone else could occupy.<\/p>\n
But the photographs contradicted that logic.<\/p>\n
Two summers.<\/p>\n
Two daughters.<\/p>\n
One dock.<\/p>\n
Room for both.<\/p>\n
We spent the afternoon opening cupboards and remembering.<\/p>\n
Alyssa found Dad\u2019s old tackle box.<\/p>\n
I found the pocketknife he once let me use.<\/p>\n
My initials remained beneath the dock.<\/p>\n
So did Alyssa\u2019s, carved years later on another beam.<\/p>\n
Neither had covered the other.<\/p>\n
Near sunset, we discovered the final instruction taped inside the pantry door.<\/p>\n
Dining table. Sit where you sat as children.<\/p>\n
The cottage table had four chairs.<\/p>\n
I knew my place immediately.<\/p>\n
Window side.<\/p>\n
Alyssa chose the opposite seat.<\/p>\n
Dad had apparently seated us in the same place during different eras.<\/p>\n
There was an envelope taped beneath each chair.<\/p>\n
We laughed at the absurdity.<\/p>\n
Then opened them.<\/p>\n
Mine contained one sentence.<\/p>\n
Ask Alyssa what she remembers about the dinner table at home.<\/p>\n
I looked up.<\/p>\n
Her envelope apparently contained a matching instruction.<\/p>\n
She went pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMine says to answer you honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The air changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you remember?\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyssa stared at the tabletop.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStart somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
She took a breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you still lived at home, I hated dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
That surprised me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were little.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI still hated it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Dad always asked you about your day first.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
That was not how I remembered dinner.<\/p>\n
I remembered Vivian dominating conversation.<\/p>\n
Dad asking Alyssa about school.<\/p>\n
Me eating quickly and leaving.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked you first,\u201d Alyssa insisted. \u201cAlmost every night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy don\u2019t I remember?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you were waiting for what came after.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat came after?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMom interrupting.\u201d<\/p>\n
A memory surfaced.<\/p>\n
Dad: How was school, Candy?<\/p>\n
Vivian: Alyssa got perfect marks on her spelling test.<\/p>\n
Dad turning toward Alyssa.<\/p>\n
Me saying, \u201cFine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conversation moving on.<\/p>\n
Alyssa had noticed the question.<\/p>\n
I remembered only losing the answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew,\u201d Alyssa whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cVivian?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew Dad asked you first.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why she always interrupted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyssa\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought she was helping me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe she thought she was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyssa shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was teaching me to take your place before you could finish a sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n
That realization sat between us.<\/p>\n
I had thought Dad never asked.<\/p>\n
Alyssa had resented that he did.<\/p>\n
We had lived at the same table inside completely different stories.<\/p>\n
Then Alyssa said, \u201cThere\u2019s something else about those dinners.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked frightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething I never told anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night before you left home, I heard Dad and Mom arguing after dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did they say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t remember everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyssa stared at her hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad said he was going to Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said if you left, he would follow you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room seemed to tilt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat can\u2019t be right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night before you packed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad had planned to follow me.<\/p>\n
Yet he did not.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyssa\u2019s eyes filled.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Mom said if he went after you, she would take me somewhere he would never find us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The threat from Dad\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n
But hearing that Alyssa had witnessed it changed something.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou heard her say that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was twelve.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
She swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad told her he didn\u2019t believe she would do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe called her bluff?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what stopped him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyssa looked toward the darkening lake.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI came downstairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlyssa\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was crying.\u201d<\/p>\n
She pressed her hands against her face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Dad not to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
We left for Lake Erie shortly after sunrise. Alyssa drove the first hour while I held two coffees between my knees and watched Ohio flatten beyond the passenger window. Neither … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10511,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10487\/revisions\/10511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}