I felt my grip tighten on the edge of the door.
“He told you the kids were in college.”
“He tells me quite a lot of things.” Her smile widened just slightly at the corners. “We talk every single night, Debra. I’m not trying to hurt you here. I’m trying to be reasonable about all of this. Tyler said he’d already told you about us last week.”
“Oh, really,” I said.
“That’s honestly the only reason I’m standing on your porch right now. Tyler told me we were past the difficult part.”
Something cold and remarkably clarifying slid quietly into place behind my ribs. Tyler hadn’t told her either, apparently. He’d sent this woman straight to a door he’d promised her was already standing wide open.
There was a low roaring sound somewhere behind my ears, but I could feel my own face, and it stayed completely still. Eighteen years of swallowing things whole had given me that particular skill, at least, if nothing else useful.
