My voice became quiet.
“I finally do.”
Melissa suddenly stood.
Her chair scraped across the floor.
“Tyler, we should go.”
Everyone looked at her.
Tyler frowned.
“Sit down.”
“I don’t feel well.”
Mom said, “Melissa, please. We’re almost finished.”
Melissa looked at me.
Not Mom.
Me.
There was something strange in her expression.
Fear.
Then guilt.
“Anna,” she said softly, “don’t sign anything.”
Tyler went rigid.
Mom’s face drained of color.
I noticed.
So did everyone else.
“What did you say?” Tyler asked.
Melissa swallowed.
“I said she shouldn’t sign.”
“Melissa.”
“Because the loan isn’t going to save the business.”
Tyler stood.
“Stop talking.”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
But she did not stop.
“The bank already knows.”
A strange pressure filled the room.
I looked at Tyler.
“Knows what?”
He said nothing.
Melissa’s eyes filled with tears.
“Tyler hasn’t been completely honest about the business debt.”
My stomach tightened.
“How incomplete?”
“Melissa,” Tyler warned.
She reached into her purse.
Then she pulled out a folded envelope.
Mom whispered, “Don’t.”
That single word changed everything.
I turned toward her.
“You knew?”
Nobody answered.
