Chapter 6 - RACHEL'S BLIND SPOT
Rachel had corrected Ryan before.
Too harsh.
Too loud.
Too rigid.
Once he made Eli stand facing the kitchen wall for twenty minutes after lying about homework.
Rachel ended it after five.
Ryan said:
“You undermine me.”
Another time he removed Eli’s bedroom door for slamming it.
Rachel made him put it back.
“He needs privacy.”
Ryan rolled his eyes.
“You always rescue him.”
Those incidents bothered Rachel.
But Ryan was also:
the man who taught Eli to ride a bike,
waited outside school concerts,
packed lunches,
and stayed up assembling a science project.
Rachel wanted the good version to be the real one.
So she described the bad version as:
strict.
When Jenna asked during the custody evaluation:
“Does Ryan ever use physical punishment?”
Rachel answered:
“No.”
True at the time, as far as she knew.
Then added:
“He can be stern, but he’s good with kids.”
That extra sentence was not required.
May you like
Rachel had volunteered reassurance because she wanted the family arrangement to work.
Now she had to ask whether reassurance had become advocacy.
