“I guess. But I think you could do better, Mom. I don’t know why you stay with him. Why you even love him. He’s mean, he’s constantly telling you what to do or not do . . . I know he’s my dad and all, but I have no relationship with him. He doesn’t give a shit about me.”

“Aria!” I warned. Owen had never abided swearing, and I found myself seeing that his rules were followed. “Language please. And your father does love you, even if he doesn’t show it.”

“I just wonder sometimes if we’d be better off without him—just you and me.”

“Honey, don’t say that! That’s a horrible thing to say.”

And yet I’d been plotting it for weeks. Slowly taking money out of the bank account every time I went grocery shopping. Scheming with Lily on how to execute it perfectly. The plan was simple and doable. Set up my own private checking account. Trickle money in over several weeks, enough to afford a couple months of rent on a place for Aria and me while I searched for a job. Then one day just disappear, leaving nothing but a note telling Owen that it was over. Lily had offered us her spare bedroom until we got on our feet. It was foolproof and I’d followed it through . . . up until that last step. The biggest one. The one that took courage I lacked.

“We both know Dad can be pretty horrible to live with. And the day you can truly admit that is the day you’ll be free. It’s what you deserve, Mom.”

My daughter had faith in me, so why didn’t I? Maybe it was time to tell her about the plan. Maybe it was time to be free after all.

Chapter 27

Mackenzie

SATURDAY MORNING

After my conversation with Aria last night, I couldn’t sleep. With Owen beside me snoring, all I could think about was what my marriage to this man was doing to my daughter. But would leaving him do worse?

A girl needed her daddy. She needed him to build her confidence, instill courage in her, show her how a potential boyfriend should treat her, protect her, one day walk her down the aisle, and give her away to the right man, because he had spent his life showing her what the “right man” should look like. A good, supportive father led the way for a girl to find her own happily ever after, whether with a good man or on her own.

Taking Aria away from her daddy didn’t seem right, even if he wasn’t doing any of those things.