Nobody behind her responded.
Sienna opened the door wider.
“Leave the boots in the garage.”
I did.
When I stepped into the living room in my socks, I heard an aerosol hiss behind me.
Sienna was spraying air freshener along the entryway.
I looked back.
She gave me a tight smile.
“New house.”
Her father chuckled from the dining room.
“Farmers probably stop noticing those smells.”
Sienna answered, “They definitely do.”
Caleb’s fork touched his plate with a sharper sound than necessary.
I sat beside him.
The cedar box rested on my lap until I found space for it on a side table.
Dinner had barely begun when Sienna shifted away from me.
Then she put down her wineglass.
“Caleb, I can’t eat while that smell is sitting right next to me. Tell your dad to sit out on the porch.”
There was no laughter this time.
Even her friends stopped pretending to concentrate on their plates.
I felt more tired than angry.
I had spent the afternoon doing work I had done for most of my life, rushed home because I did not want to disappoint my son, cleaned myself up, and driven across town carrying something Evelyn had prepared before she died.
And still I had somehow arrived as an embarrassment.
“I’m sorry,” I said again.
I reached for the cedar box.
“I’ll go.”
Caleb put his hand on my shoulder.
“No, Dad.”
Sienna folded her arms.
“Oh, come on. I’m not asking him to leave forever. He can sit outside tonight and come back another time when he’s cleaned up properly.”
“I did clean up,” I said.
She ignored me.
“This is an expensive neighborhood, Caleb. His truck is sitting out front, his boots were covered with mud, and now the whole dining room smells like a barn. What do you think people are going to think?”
Caleb looked at her.
“What kind of people do you think we are?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“No. Say it.”
Sienna hesitated.
“The kind of family that knows how to present itself.”
Her mother finally spoke.
“Every household needs boundaries.”
I picked up the cedar box.
“That’s enough. I’m going home.”
Caleb rose before I could move.
“No. You’re staying.”
He crossed to the counter, then returned and faced Sienna.
“Give me the house keys.”
She laughed.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Caleb, you’re making this ridiculous.”
“It stopped being ridiculous a long time ago.”
She stared at him.
“Over one comment?”
“Not one.”
The smile left her face.
Caleb unlocked his phone.
“I tried to convince myself I misunderstood you. I tried to convince myself you were stressed about the wedding.”
He looked down at the screen.
Then he read.
“I only have to put up with the old man until after the wedding. That farm is worth at least $2 million. Once we’re married, Caleb will have to choose between his wife and the old man.”
Sienna’s chair moved sharply against the floor.
“Where did you get that?”
Caleb swiped to another message.
“The new house is only the beginning. I have no intention of spending the rest of my life surrounded by the smell of cows and those country dinners.”
She reached for the phone.
Caleb stepped back.
“You went through my messages?”
“The tablet you gave me for wedding bookings was synced to your account. They showed up on the screen.”
“You still had no right to read them.”
“They appeared while I was using the tablet you handed me.”
Sienna turned toward me.
“This is because of him. Everything has become about your father.”
Caleb’s jaw tightened.
“No. This is because of you.”
I looked at her across the table.
Months earlier, she had hugged me in a kitchen and called me Dad.
Now the same woman had asked my son to put me outside like a pair of muddy boots.
“Did you ever love Caleb,” I asked, “or did you love the life you thought came with him?”
Her eyes hardened.
“You don’t get to question me in my own house.”
Caleb answered before I could.
“That’s part of the problem. You keep calling this your house.”
He placed his phone on the table.
“My father gave me $90,000 after selling part of the field my mother planted. The deed is in my name. We’re not married.”
Sienna went still.
“You don’t own this house.”
Her father pushed back from the table.
“Caleb, be careful. Everyone is upset.”
