Chapter 10 - The New Normal
It has been two years since the barbecue incident.
Our lives have drastically changed.
We moved out of state, leaving the toxic family dynamics a thousand miles behind us.
Mark got a promotion.
Evan is six now, happy, healthy, and completely safe.
He doesn't remember the aunt who slapped him over a piece of chicken.
As for Diane?
I occasionally see updates through mutual acquaintances on social media.
She never recovered her influencer status.
She works a minimum-wage job at a plant-based grocery store.
The irony is almost poetic.
She is strictly vegan now, not by choice, but by biological force.
Her parents had to downsize to a small apartment to pay off her medical debts.
The golden child completely bankrupted the kingdom built for her.
They tried to reach out a few times.
Birthday cards for Evan. Voicemails on holidays.
We return to sender. We delete the messages.
Some people might call me cold.
Some people might say I should have warned her about the tick bite, that as a doctor, I had a moral obligation.
But I'm a mother first.
When a predator attacks your young, you don't offer them medical advice.
You let nature take its course.
Diane learned the hardest lesson of her life.
You can bully people.
You can manipulate your parents.
But you cannot bully a mother protecting her child.
And you certainly cannot outsmart biology.
She took my son's joy that day.
And just like I promised.
May you like
She never ate another piece of meat for the rest of her life.
The knot is finally, and permanently, tied.
