Before I could process it, someone knocked on my door hard, three loud bangs that rattled the frame. I looked through the peephole and opened the door to find Jacob standing there looking disheveled, shirt wrinkled, hair uncombed, holding a folder like he was practicing what to say. Behind him stood Ellie with her arms crossed and sunglasses hiding her eyes.<\/p>\n
The first words out of her mouth weren\u2019t I\u2019m sorry.They were: \u201cYou just ruined our lives.\u201dI stepped aside silently and let them in. They sat on the couch. I stood.
\nThe silence stretched too long, so I broke it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hurt me,\u201d I said quietly.Ellie rolled her eyes. \u201cI tripped. It wasn\u2019t my fault you\u2019re so fragile.\u201dJacob cut in, \u201cEllie\u2014\u201dBut she kept going. \u201cShe was in our kitchen, judging everything, telling me how to raise a child I haven\u2019t even had yet. You think I\u2019m just going to take that?\u201d<\/p>\n
I blinked once, then spoke with the calm of a woman who had been pushed too far.\u201cYou hit me, Ellie. And when I didn\u2019t respond the way you expected, you both shut me out like I was disposable furniture.\u201d
\nJacob shifted, uncomfortable. \u201cShe said it was an accident,\u201d he muttered.I raised my cast. The bruising was dark now, purple and blue, the swelling worse. \u201cYou didn\u2019t even come downstairs, Jacob.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before I could process it, someone knocked on my door hard, three loud bangs that rattled the frame. I looked through the peephole and opened the door… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n