“He has been talking about retirement for months,” I said, looking at the brass key. “Is he finally stepping back?”
“He is ready to move to Florida,” Daniel said, his face expressionless as he slipped the key into his pocket. “We are just settling the final accounts so he can walk away clean.”
“Does it mean more hours for you?” I asked.
“It means more responsibility,” Daniel said. “But it’s the only way to ensure the shop stays ours.”
Noah yawned loudly from the sofa, his eyes heavy under the harsh office light.
“Let’s get him home,” Daniel said.
The kitchen of our rented house was quiet, the only sound the steady drip of the kitchen faucet that Daniel had been meaning to fix. Noah went straight to bed, his small body exhausted from the silent tension of the evening.
I stood by the counter, staring at the old yellow telephone hanging on the wall.
Daniel came in from the hallway, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing the faint pale scars from old engine burns on his forearms.
“He is asleep,” Daniel said, pouring himself a glass of water from the tap.
“We can’t go back there, Daniel,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “Even if my mother calls to apologize.”
“I don’t expect you to,” Daniel said, setting the glass down on the laminate counter.
“He wants us to feel small,” I said. “He wants me to regret marrying you.”
Daniel walked over to the wooden counter where his keyring lay, the brass keys to the garage glinting under the overhead fluorescent light. He picked them up, letting them jingle softly in his palm before setting them down again.
“I am going to make this right, Emily,” he said, his voice steady and low. “We aren’t going to be the family they look down on anymore.”
I looked at him, wanting to believe the absolute certainty in his eyes, but the heavy silence of the kitchen settled between us as Daniel looked at the garage keys on the counter.
Daniel did not touch the heavy brass keyring. He pulled a wooden chair out from our laminate table, the linoleum scraping beneath the metal-tipped legs, and sat down with a slow, heavy breath.
