Chapter 4 - Don’t Tell Your FatherTasha stood so quickly the shopping bag beside her foot tipped over.
A package of socks slid onto the floor.
“Jayden, that’s not what happened.”
His face tightened.
“You said, ‘We don’t need to tell your dad every detail.’”
Marcus stared at her.
Tasha pressed a hand to her forehead.
“I was trying to keep him out of an adult argument.”
Marcus’s voice dropped.
“So you recruited our son into keeping a secret.”
“No.”
“That is exactly what he just said.”
“I didn’t say, ‘Lie to your father.’”
Jayden whispered, “It felt like lying.”
Both adults went quiet.
That sentence carried more authority than anything either of them had said.
Marcus turned toward him.
“Come sit down.”
Jayden sat at the edge of the sofa.
Marcus took the armchair.
Tasha remained standing.
Marcus kept his voice calm.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
Tasha started to speak.
Marcus raised a hand.
“Please.”
He looked at Jayden.
“From you.”
Jayden stared at his fingers.
“Mom was writing stuff down.”
“What stuff?”
“School things.”
“For everybody?”
He nodded.
“She kept crossing things off.”
“What things?”
“Maya’s shoes. Eli’s backpack. Some uniform shirts.”
Marcus glanced at Tasha but said nothing.
Jayden continued.
“I asked why.”
“And what did she say?”
“That there wasn’t enough money yet.”
“And then?”
“You sent the six hundred.”
Jayden’s eyes filled again.
“She told me it was for my school clothes.”
Marcus waited.
“I said I didn’t need six hundred dollars.”
“You shouldn’t have had to think about that.”
“I wanted to.”
Marcus swallowed his next response.
Jayden continued.
“I said Maya needed shoes because hers hurt her toes. And Eli’s backpack had tape on the bottom.”
From upstairs came the faint creak of a floorboard.
Maya and Eli were listening.
Marcus knew it.
He hated that too.
“I told Mom she could use some.”
Marcus looked at Tasha.
“And then?”
Jayden rubbed his sleeve across one eye.
“She said you’d get mad.”
Marcus felt something twist inside him.
“Did you think I’d get mad at you?”
Jayden did not answer immediately.
That hesitation hurt worse than yes.
“Sometimes,” he finally said.
Marcus leaned forward.
“For giving something to your brother and sister?”
“For not wanting what you bought me.”
Marcus blinked.
“What does that mean?”
Jayden stared at the floor.
“You like buying me expensive stuff.”
“I like making sure you have good things.”
“I know.”
“But?”
Jayden’s shoulders rose.
“Sometimes I don’t care.”
Marcus sat back.
Tasha looked at him, not triumphantly, but sadly.
Jayden continued.
“Last year you got me those basketball shoes.”
“You wanted those.”
“I said they were cool.”
“You sent me the link.”
“Because you asked me three times.”
Marcus said nothing.
Jayden’s voice shook.
“I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate stuff.”
“I don’t.”
“But you get happy when I like what you buy.”
That sentence found an old place inside Marcus.
A place he had never explained to anyone.
He looked away.
Tasha noticed.
“So the Jordans,” Jayden said, “I didn’t really care.”
Marcus managed, “Okay.”
“I wanted regular shoes.”
“Okay.”
“And I didn’t want Maya and Eli going to school with messed-up stuff.”
Marcus nodded slowly.
“You’re allowed to care about them.”
Jayden’s face broke.
“I do.”
Marcus moved beside him.
“You are not responsible for providing for them.”
“I know.”
“You can share. You can be generous. But you don’t sacrifice because adults haven’t handled adult things.”
Jayden nodded.
Marcus glanced at Tasha.
“That includes us.”
She looked down.
Jayden whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Both parents answered instantly.
“No.”
Marcus put a hand on his shoulder.
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
Tasha crouched in front of him.
“I’m sorry.”
Jayden looked at her.
“I should never have told you to keep anything from your dad.”
“You were scared he’d be mad.”
“I was.”
Marcus absorbed that.
Tasha continued.
“But my fear is mine. I gave it to you. That was wrong.”
Jayden nodded.
Upstairs, another floorboard creaked.
Tasha looked toward the staircase.
“Maya? Eli?”
Slowly, Maya appeared.
Eli stood behind her.
Maya’s eyes were wet.
She was still wearing the lavender backpack.
“You can take it back,” she told Marcus.
He stared.
“What?”
“The backpack.”
She began pulling the straps off.
“You can take it back.”
Marcus stood immediately.
“No.”
She froze.
“I’m not taking anything from you.”
“But it was Jayden’s money.”
Marcus looked at Tasha.
Then at Maya.
He walked toward her but stopped several feet away.
“That argument is between grown-ups.”
Maya held the backpack against her chest.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“What about my shoes?”
“Keep your shoes.”
Her eyes searched his face.
“You’re not mad at me?”
Marcus felt ashamed.
“No.”
“What about Eli?”
“No.”
Eli peeked around his sister.
Marcus crouched.
“I’m not mad at either one of you.”
Eli whispered, “You looked mad.”
“I was.”
“At Mom?”
Marcus considered his answer carefully.
“At a decision.”
Tasha looked at him.
Not at a person.
Not at a child.
At a decision.
It mattered.
Eli nodded.
The room relaxed by one degree.
Then Marcus’s phone buzzed again.
This time he checked it.
A text from his mother, Loretta.
You still coming by tonight? Need to talk to you about Jayden.
Marcus frowned.
Tasha noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
But the message bothered him.
Loretta rarely said she needed to talk about Jayden unless something had happened.
Marcus typed:
What’s wrong?
The answer arrived immediately.
He called me yesterday. Asked if he could live with you.
Marcus looked up.
Jayden saw his face.
“What happened?”
Marcus stared at his son.
The financial argument vanished beneath a much bigger fear.
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“Why did you call Grandma?”
Jayden went completely still.
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