The call from my mother came on a Sunday afternoon. I was in the storage unit measuring a piece of walnut for a cabinet door, and I nearly missed the ringing because the small radio beside my tools was turned up. Mom rarely called in the middle of the day unless she needed something, so I wiped the sawdust from my hands and answered. Her voice sounded cautious even before she said my name.
"Alex, honey, are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Mom. Is everything okay with you and Dad?"
"We're fine. It's Sarah. She called me this morning."
I set the measuring tape down. For a second, I was back at the kitchen counter listening to Sarah tell me I was the problem because I would not respond to her messages. I took a breath and asked what she had said.
"She was crying," Mom told me. "She said she'd made a terrible mistake and that everything is falling apart. She wanted to know if you'd talk to her. She kept saying she wasn't the same person anymore."
I looked at the cabinet door in front of me, at the pencil line I had drawn across the wood. "Did she tell you about Liam?"
"She said he lied to her about a lot of things. She said she trusted him and now she's frightened about the investigation."
I felt a tug of sympathy that surprised me. I knew what it felt like to discover that someone you loved had concealed an important part of their life. I also knew that the fact Sarah might have been deceived by Liam did not undo the deception she had chosen to practice with me. Both could be true, and I was tired of conversations that demanded I pretend otherwise.
"What did you say to her?" I asked.
"Mostly I listened," Mom replied. "She was very upset, and I didn't want to be cruel. Then she asked whether I'd tell you to give her a chance to explain."
I ran a hand over my face. My mother had always been generous with people, sometimes to the point of taking responsibility for feelings that were not hers to manage. I did not want Sarah using that kindness to reach me through a person I loved. I also did not want to speak to Mom as though she had done something wrong by answering a call from someone who used to be family.
"I'm sorry she put you in that position," I said. "But I'm not getting back together with her. The breakup isn't an argument we haven't finished. I've moved on, and I need her to respect that."
Mom was quiet. "I thought that was how you felt," she said. "I just wanted to hear it from you."
"Please don't pass messages for her. If she calls again, you can tell her you don't want to be involved. You don't have to listen to a whole explanation. And if she keeps calling, block the number."