They Gave My Sister My Room, Now They've Lost Everything novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: Valentina
Valentina held a white envelope against her chest with both hands.
"Val," Dad said. "Get back in the car."
"No."
She had never said that word to him in front of anyone.
He stopped with his mouth open.
She turned to face the steps, and the hundred first-years, and me.
"I got an eleven hundred on my SATs," she said. "That part is true."
Her voice shook.
She pushed on anyway.
"I cried when the scores came out, and Dad asked me what would help. I said I didn't know. He said, what if you had the best room in the new house, with the window? And I said yes."
"Valentina," Mom said, climbing out of the truck.
"I was seventeen, and I wanted a room, so I said yes. Then in June I found the paper from Nonna's bank in Dad's desk, and I read it. I knew whose name was on it."
The courtyard was very still.
"I didn't say anything," Valentina said. "I let him buy it, and I picked the paint."
I stood very still on the bottom step.
"The anchovies," I said.
"I asked Mom to put them in the salad."
"Val."
"You never ate a bite of anything I cared about, and I wanted you to hate it, to hate being there. I thought if you got angry enough you'd leave on your own, and nobody would have to say it was because of me." She was crying now, quietly, without checking who was watching. "I didn't know you would stop breathing."
Mom pressed a fist to her mouth.
Dad stared at his daughter and said nothing.
Franco, at the railing, had put his hand over his mouth.
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