Page 87 of Playing Her Game

The words come out more quietly than I expect.

“Not whether I'd embarrassed the family. Not whether I'd jeopardized the arrangement. Not whether I'd lost my mind over a hockey player. Whether I was okay.”

Mother's chin lifts.

“I knew you were okay.”

I stare at her.

“How?”

“I paid your hospital bill. The one charged to your black card.”

For a moment, I can't speak.

She says it as though she's presented irrefutable evidence. As though the fact that she saw a bill, authorized a payment, and knew I'd been discharged should have been enough to reassure her. As though the money itself constitutes a conversation we never had.

“You paid a bill,” I say finally.

“Yes, Anneliese. I made certain it was taken care of.”

“And that told you I was okay?”

“It told me you had received medical attention and that the matter had been handled.”

“The matter.”

Father shifts near the window, but I don't look at him.

“I was in a hospital, Mother. Something happened to me. You knew that, and you never once asked how I was feeling. You didn't ask if I was frightened, hurt, or needed anything. You didn't even ask if I wanted to come home.”

“I was informed that you were receiving care.”

“By whom?”

She doesn't answer immediately.

I let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “You see? That's exactly what I mean. You can find out about the hospital. You can find out about Rez. You can track down every detail you need to build a case against me, but you couldn't pick up the phone and ask your own daughter if she was all right.”

“Your safety was never in question,” Mother says.

“Mine wasn't?”

“Anneliese, don't be dramatic.”

“Enough,” Father says.

The word cuts through the room, and for a moment, I think he's about to tell me to apologize.

Instead, he looks at Mother.

“She has a point.”

Mother turns toward him, visibly taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“You knew she was in the hospital. You knew about the footage. You knew enough to pay the bill and investigate the man involved, yet apparently neither of us thought to ask our daughter how she was feeling.”

“You know perfectly well why I⁠—”