This wasn’t a controlling grandma steamrolling two parents anymore. It was a grieving widow begging her son to honor his dad.
Then she turned on me.
“That would be such a lovely tribute.”
“Levi never would’ve treated me like this before he married you.” Her eyes found mine, and she lowered her voice just enough. “Would your late mother approve of you treating BENJAMIN’s only grandma this way?”
I almost folded right there.
Diane was using the very thing that made me patient as a crowbar against me.
“That’s enough.”
I almost folded right there.
“You want to talk about Dad?” Levi said. “Fine. Let’s talk about Dad.”
He didn’t shout. That’s what made everyone listen.
“Dad didn’t have ‘high standards.’ He criticized me constantly. When I was fifteen, I won second place at the state science fair. Second in the whole state. I brought the certificate home in front of the whole family, and Dad looked at it and asked who beat me.”
He stared at Diane so fiercely I thought she might catch fire.
“Dad looked at it and asked who beat me.”
“Then he spent dinner telling Aunt Rose what I’d done wrong.” Levi crossed his arms.
