“Everything?” I ask carefully.
“Everything!” she repeats immediately. “You didn’t care enough about Daddy to make your marriage work! You didn’t love him like Mamie and Jacob loved each other! And now my life is ruined! Because of you!”
I feel like she’s punched me in the stomach, and for a moment, I can’t catch my breath. I stare at her. “What are you talking about?” I ask once I can find my voice. “Now you’re blaming the divorce on me?”
“Of course I am!” she shrieks. She puts her hands on her hips and stomps her foot again. “Everyone knows it’s your fault!”
I’m unprepared once again for how hard her words hit me. “What?”
“If you had just loved Daddy, he wouldn’t be living on the other side of town now, and he wouldn’t have a dumb girlfriend who hates me!” Annie says. And suddenly, I understand. This isn’t about me and Rob. This is about the way Rob’s new girlfriend is making Annie feel. And despite the fact that Annie is wounding me to the core right now, I’m more hurt for her than I am for myself.
“What do you mean his girlfriend hates you?” I ask quietly.
“What do you care?” Annie mumbles, suddenly deflating. Her back arches inward, and she crosses her arms over her chest as she slumps her shoulders. She looks at the ground.
“I care because I love you,” I say after a moment. “And your father loves you. And whoever this woman is, if she’s acting like she doesn’t like you, she’s obviously completely nuts.”
“Whatever,” Annie mutters. “Dad doesn’t think she’s nuts. Dad thinks Sunshine’s perfect.”
I take a deep breath. That sounds just like Rob. He’s like a little kid; he gets entranced for a while by shiny, new things. Cars. Houses. Clothes. Boats. And, once upon a time, me. But I know the truth. I know that his infatuations are always temporary. But Annie is the one thing in his life that’s supposed to be permanent. “I’m sure your dad doesn’t think this woman is perfect,” I say. “He loves you, Annie. If she’s doing something that bothers you, tell your dad about it. He’ll make it right.” I don’t expect much of Rob these days, but at least I expect that.
But Annie just stares at the ground. “I did tell him,” she says softly. The anger has gone out of her voice now, and her limbs look limp and lifeless. She hangs her head and doesn’t meet my eye.
“What did he say?” I ask.
“He said I need to learn to respect my elders better,” Annie says. She takes a deep breath. “And that I need to learn to get along better with Sunshine.”
My blood boils and I clench my fists. Annie’s not perfect, and I wouldn’t put it past her to be giving her father’s new girlfriend a hard time. But there’s no excuse for Rob taking his girlfriend’s side over his daughter’s, especially when Annie is probably confused by him moving on so quickly.
“What exactly does Sunshine do to make you think she doesn’t like you?” I ask carefully.
Annie guffaws, making her sound much older and tougher than she is. “What doesn’t she do?” she asks. She sniffs and looks away. When she speaks again, she just sounds sad. “She doesn’t ever talk to me. She talks to Dad like I’m invisible or something. Sometimes, she laughs at me. She told me my outfit the other day was stupid.”
“She told you your outfit was stupid?” I repeat, incredulous. “She actually said it was stupid?”
Annie nods. “Yeah. And when she was gone the other day, and I tried to talk to Dad about it, I thought he understood. I thought he, like, got it. But that night, when I got home after the bakery, I went into the bathroom, and right there on the counter—in my bathroom—was a silver necklace he’d bought for Sunshine and a note he’d written her that said, ‘I’m sorry Annie made you feel bad with the things she said. I’ll take care of it. I don’t want you hurting.’”
I stare at her. “He told her about the conversation you had with him?” I ask.
Annie nods. “And then bought her a present,” she says, spitting the last word out like it tastes bad. “A present. To make her feel better. And then what does she go and do? She leaves the present in my bathroom, like it’s some kind of a mistake. But I know what she was doing. She was, like, trying to show me that Dad would always choose her over me.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” I murmur. But of course it is. Sunshine sounds like a manipulative shrew. And that’s fine if she wants to manipulate my ex-husband. I’m done looking out for him, and to be honest, he deserves to be the one manipulated and used for once. But I draw the line at a woman who goes out of her way to hurt a twelve-year-old girl. And when that twelve-year-old girl is mine, I see red. “What did your dad say?” I ask Annie. “Did you tell him about finding the necklace?”