Chapter 2 — A Father’s Interruption
Abigail stared at the orange juice dripping from the lower shelf trim.
Her mouth opened slightly, but no words came out.
The sharp rebuke she had prepared just moments earlier vanished into the quiet hum of the kitchen.
Caleb did not raise his voice.
He simply looked down at the broken plastic bracket holding the wire rack in place.
“You didn’t check it, did you, Mom?” Caleb asked quietly.
Abigail crossed her arms defensively, her posture stiffening against the kitchen counter.
“How was I supposed to know the thing was broken?” Abigail demanded, her voice rising to cover her sudden embarrassment.
“She’s just a child, and the floor was covered in sticky mess.”
Chloe stayed close to her father’s leg, her fingers gripping the hem of his jeans.
“I told her it moved,” Chloe whispered, her voice barely audible over the refrigerator’s hum.
Caleb crouched down again to inspect the underside of the upper compartment.
He ran his fingers along the plastic molding of the interior wall.
A small, loose screw fell out of the runner track and clinked against the wire shelf.
Caleb picked up the tiny metal piece and held it up between his thumb and forefinger.
The threading on the screw was completely stripped smooth.
Caleb turned the screw over to show Abigail the damage.
“This didn’t happen today,” Caleb said.
Abigail stepped closer, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the worn metal in his hand.
“What do you mean by that?”
Caleb stood up and walked over to the kitchen desk where the household maintenance binder sat next to the landline phone.
He flipped open the cover to the appliance service logs.
The last recorded maintenance date was written in black ink at the top of the page.
It was dated three months ago, signed by a repair technician named Marcus.
Caleb ran his finger down the list of completed tasks until he stopped at a specific entry near the bottom.