Eventually, the attempted loan application became serious enough that he needed an attorney of his own. My father did not press criminal charges immediately, but he did refuse to lie. That alone changed everything. Brent’s world had been built on people cushioning the floor beneath him. When they stopped, gravity did what gravity does.
Cassandra found a small apartment near Tyler’s school. She apologized to my children again, not as a performance, but in pieces, over time. She drove Tyler to Rose House every other Saturday. He swept floors, labeled shelves, and once spent three hours helping Noah organize plastic dinosaurs by geological period, which Emma called “the most boring act of friendship ever committed.”
Tyler took it seriously.
“I’m trying to be less of a jerk,” he said.
Emma considered him.
“You’re doing medium.”
“I’ll take it.”
In June, Rose House opened.
Not as a business.
