Even hurt, even confused, she was watching.
So I moved slowly.
I kept my voice low.
I wiped her nose with the corner of the towel and made sure she could breathe.
I did not want my daughter to learn that the loudest person in the room was the safest one.
Sarah ruined that silence herself.
“What are you staring at, ungrateful girl?” she snapped. “When Michael gets home, he’ll put you in your place.”
I looked at her then.
Not like a daughter-in-law.
Not like a hostess.
Not like the woman who had been smoothing over her insults for the sake of peace.
I looked at her like the mother of the child on the floor.
“Say that again,” I said.
Sarah lifted her chin.
“You heard me.”
Tyler had gone still on the couch.
His hot dog hovered halfway between the plate and his mouth.
Sarah saw him watching and seemed to grow taller from it.
