I turned toward the voice.
Elmer was standing in the doorway, eyes rimmed red, looking like he might burst into tears any second.
If I hadn't lived through it once already, if I didn't know he was the one who poisoned everything.
I might actually have fallen for the act.
"Peter."
Elmer rushed over to me and went on, "I never realized you resented me this much."
"I came back to help you run the chicken farm, but now I can see it's better if I just leave."
"Don't worry. I won't compete with you for attention anymore."
One neat move, retreat as advance.
It broke my mother's heart on the spot. She said quickly, "It's true, I'm the one who had that weasel thrown in. It had nothing to do with Elmer. There's no reason to take it out on him."
"I'm apologizing to you. That's enough, isn't it?"
Listen to that tone.
As if I were the one in the wrong.
"Let it go already."
Right then Antonia showed up too, frowning at me. "You're his son. You're not really going to hand your own mother over to the police, are you?"
"Besides, there's nothing wrong with what Auntie did."
"People are always going to compare you and Elmer. You can't just stand by and let them gossip about him, can you?"
"If you ask me, sign over half your shares to Elmer, and no one will have anything left to say."
"Best of both worlds!"
Smoothing things over on the surface, taking Elmer's side underneath.
I couldn't help it. "Why should half of a business I built with my own sweat go to Elmer? What has he ever done for it?"
"Just because he's the one you've always carried a torch for?"
In my last life, this was the exact deal my mother and Antonia put to me together. I agreed to give up thirty percent of the shares and make Elmer the manager of the farm.
I told myself the two of us could pull together, and wherever she went, my mother would be able to hold her head high.
And what came of it? Every last chicken on my farm poisoned dead.
So laying your heart bare buys you no peace. It sure doesn't buy you gratitude.
Antonia's eyes went wide now, clearly not expecting me to know this secret.
Beside her, Elmer opened his mouth again.
"You're right. A useless man like me has no business helping my cousin."
"If I hadn't come back, the two of you wouldn't be fighting. It's all my fault…"
This time the tears came pouring down.
"Don't cry, don't cry, it's not your fault, not one bit. It's this ungrateful son of mine who doesn't know any better."
My mother held Elmer and comforted him, then turned and shouted at me, furious. "You know Elmer can't find work, you know how much pressure he's under. Couldn't you consider his feelings even a little?"
"And who's going to consider mine?"
I clenched my fists and threw it back at her.
The room fell quiet for a moment, then her voice pitched up again. "You're two years older than Elmer. How can you even bring yourself to say something like that?"
"Get out!"
"I don't have a son like you!"
She said it through gritted teeth, looking at me the way you'd look at an enemy.
"Peter."
Antonia grabbed at my arm quickly. "Elmer finally made the trip out here. Don't make this any uglier than it has to be."
"Just bow your head and apologize to your mom, and the whole thing blows over."
"It's Valentine's Day. There's a lantern festival tonight. We can all go walk around together."
I shook her hand off and said coldly, "I'm not interested. The three of you go."
And with that.
I turned and walked out.
"Peter!"
Elmer made a show of trying to come after me, but my mother caught him and held him back.
"Forget it."
"Once he's done throwing his fit, he'll come back on his own. Leave him. Let's eat."
Hearing that, I shook my head with a bitter smile.
Come back?
Not a chance.
I'd had enough.
I was never walking the same road as last life again.
And I knew this much too, Elmer wouldn't rest until he'd put me in the ground.
