Chapter 4 - I Started Watching
The next morning I found Carla on the patio with her coffee.
"We need to talk. Why are you cutting Josie out of pictures?"
Her mug stopped halfway to her mouth. "I'm not."
"I watched you do it yesterday."
"That photo was framed badly."
"She was standing right next to Daisy."
"And now Daisy's centered and it's actually postable."
"You erased my daughter."
Carla set the mug down. "She hated having her picture taken when she was younger. I was doing her a favor."
"That did not give you the right to delete her."
"You're making this sound so sinister." She leaned back. "I pick the pictures where everyone looks their best. That's it."
"Everyone?"
I leaned in over the table. "You are never cropping Josie out of another photo. You don't tell her where to stand. You don't tell her what to wear. You don't get to decide how much of her is acceptable to look at. Are we clear?"
Carla stood up. "There it is."
"There's what?"
"Another lecture about Josie." The resentment in her voice actually stopped me for a second. "This whole family has spent sixteen years pretending the sun rises and sets on your daughter's feelings."
"She has been mocked her entire life for the way she was born."
"And you can't make the whole world rearrange itself around that, Diane."
"This isn't the whole world." I stepped between her and the sliding door. "This is her family. We're supposed to be the people who don't do this to her."
May you like
She pushed past me and went inside.
I thought I'd finally been clear. What I'd actually done was warn her that I'd started watching.
