Chapter 168: Gloria Arrives
The doorbell rang just after noon.
Claire felt dread immediately.
Not because she knew who it was.
Because her nervous system had started treating unexpected sounds like threats.
Alex looked up from her laptop at the same exact moment.
Then Phil called from the hallway:
"I got it!"
Claire physically stood too quickly.
"Wait—"
Too late.
A second later Phil's warm voice echoed through the house.
"Gloria! Hey."
Claire closed her eyes briefly.
Then Gloria entered the kitchen carrying a tense smile and oversized sunglasses despite the cloudy weather outside.
The second she saw Claire and Alex together, her expression changed.
Subtle.
Still obvious enough.
Because Gloria immediately understood:
Alex knew too.
Phil noticed none of it.
Naturally.
"You emotionally distressed people are multiplying in my kitchen," he joked while grabbing another coffee mug. "Is this an intervention?"
Nobody laughed correctly.
Phil blinked once.
"…Okay, that was weird."
Alex recovered first.
"She came to check on Haley."
Good save.
Phil relaxed instantly.
"Ah."
Then he looked toward Gloria sympathetically.
"Yeah, Haley's having a rough morning."
The guilt that crossed Gloria's face after hearing that looked almost painful enough to expose everything immediately.
Claire noticed.
Alex noticed.
Phil just mistook it for concern.
Then Gloria forced herself to speak normally.
"Is she here?"
"No," Alex answered carefully. "She went out."
Phil nodded.
"She's probably decompressing. Your generation loves emotional decompression." He looked toward Claire. "We used to just buy patio furniture and repress things."
Alex physically pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Dad."
"What? I'm emotional too."
The normalcy of the conversation felt surreal now.
Because underneath it:
Claire knew,
Gloria knew,
Alex knew,
Haley knew,
and Phil stood in the center of a collapsing structure completely unaware.
Then Gloria finally looked toward Claire directly.
Tiny glance.
Still enough.
Claire understood instantly:
they needed to talk alone.
Alex noticed that too.
Then Alex stood abruptly from the table.
"I need to email Stanford before my future collapses."
The wording landed unintentionally hard.
She walked past Claire slowly, pausing just enough beside her mother to murmur quietly:
"Be careful."
Then she disappeared upstairs.
Phil looked between them.
"Why does everybody in this house suddenly feel like they're in a crime documentary?"
Claire forced herself to answer normally.
"Haley's upset. Everybody's tense."
Phil accepted that explanation because Phil trusted her.
Then Luke yelled from upstairs:
"Dad! I think the garage is leaking!"
Phil immediately looked horrified.
He hurried out of the kitchen without another thought.
The second he disappeared, silence crashed into the room.
Gloria removed her sunglasses slowly.
Her eyes were red.
Claire's chest tightened instantly.
Because suddenly Gloria didn't look seductive.
Or emotionally overwhelmed.
She looked guilty.
Then Gloria whispered:
"She won't answer my calls."
The pain in her voice sounded real enough to hurt.