No accusations, no name-calling, just calm, perfectly composed wording. It didn’t feel like her at all. Emily read it twice and said, “She’s not trying to fix anything. She’s setting a trap.” I replied with one line:
“Emily will be there, too.”
She never wrote back. But I had a feeling this wasn’t over. And I was right.
Three days after the email, my parents showed up at our apartment. No call, no warning, just rang the bell at 7:15 p.m. while Emily and I were eating dinner. I opened the door halfway, didn’t say anything. My dad gave a little wave like this was just a friendly visit. My mom had her purse slung over her shoulder like she’d been planning to stay.
She said, “We just want to talk calmly.” I told them they had 3 minutes. They walked in anyway. Emily stayed in the kitchen, arms crossed, not speaking. She wasn’t going to do the fake smile thing. She didn’t need to. Everyone knew where she stood.
My mom went first. She said Bethany was going through a transformative period and had made mistakes she regrets deeply. She said the podcast was just her way of processing things, that I shouldn’t take it so personally.