“It’s from the day before the fishing trip.”
I stepped toward her.
Sophie looked down at the screen.
Then back at me.
“Mom, I know what really happened back then.”
“There’s a video that synced from Dad’s account.”
I just stared at her. “What?”
“Dad wasn’t alone in it,” she whispered. “Uncle Dean was there.”
She pressed play.
Daniel appeared on the screen.
He’d propped his phone on the workbench while checking fishing gear.
He was alive.
Laughing.
I reached for the bedpost.
Then someone walked into the frame behind him.
Dean.
“Dad wasn’t alone in it.”
I stared.
“What is he doing there?”
Sophie didn’t answer.
On the video, Dean said, “I’m not going, man.”
Daniel looked up sharply.
“What do you mean you’re not going?”
I turned toward Sophie.
“Going where?”
She whispered, “Fishing, I think.”
My pulse spiked.
Dean had been invited.
“What is he doing there?”
In six years, he had never told me.
The video kept playing…
Daniel threw a life jacket onto the workbench.
“You need this weekend.”
Dean laughed bitterly.
“My girlfriend walked out three months ago, Dan. Fishing isn’t going to fix that.”
Daniel looked at him. “No. But sitting alone won’t either.”
In six years, he had never told me.
Dean looked away.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Come with us.”
“No.”
“Fine.”
Then Daniel picked up another life jacket.
Checked the straps.
And said something that made every hair on my arms rise.
“Kids don’t remember every expensive thing you buy them, Dean.”
He pulled hard on the buckle.
“They remember whether you came back.”
The video froze for half a second.
My breath stopped for a second.
Daniel had said that the day before he never came back.
The video froze for half a second.
But that wasn’t the part Sophie had been trying to show me.
She reached over and dragged the video forward.
And said, “Mom, listen to what Dad says next.”
Daniel was still talking to Dean.
“Fine. Don’t come fishing.”
Dean looked away.
Daniel tightened another life-jacket strap.
“Mom, listen to what Dad says next.”
“But come over Sunday night.”
“For what?”
“The boys are going to talk your ear off whether you like it or not.”
Dean almost smiled.
Then the video ended.
***
I stared at the black screen.
Sophie opened another folder.
