Chapter 7 - THE THING I HAD ALREADY AGREED TO
Celeste’s lawyers later produced a text from me.
CELESTE:
I can’t live in a museum forever.
ME:
Neither can I.
At first glance, devastating.
Then another:
CELESTE:
Some of Mara’s things need to go.
ME:
Yes. Eventually. With care.
And:
CELESTE:
I want our bedroom to feel like ours.
ME:
It should.
All true.
I had wanted change.
That mattered.
I had not expected to preserve Mara’s toothbrush forever.
Grief can turn houses into warehouses for fear.
I knew that.
I had even told Dr. Ward:
“I don’t want Eva growing up in a shrine.”
So when Celeste argued later that she believed she was carrying out a shared intention, there was evidence.
The line was not:
remove nothing.
The line was:
who decides what leaves, how, and what belongs to Eva.
Celeste crossed it.
But I had failed to define it.
That was my first real responsibility in the mess.
May you like
Not causing Celeste’s behavior.
Creating ambiguity around belongings I should have treated more carefully.
