“With the children. But I wouldn’t mind joining you for a cup of tea while you have supper.”
Joel opened the refrigerator.
“Actually, Mom, we’re pretty tired.”
I waited.
He took out a container of pasta.
“We’ll probably just eat and go to bed.”
Stephanie turned toward him.
“Joel.”
“What?”
She looked at me.
“You’re welcome to stay.”
Something in her voice made me look twice.
I thanked her.
Then I asked the question I’d been carrying since the previous Saturday.
“Stephanie, what did you whisper to Joel last week, when you came home from the cinema?”
Her face changed.
“Last week?”
“When you were making dinner.”
She looked at Joel.
He stared into the refrigerator.
“I told him to ask you to stay and eat.”
For a moment, nobody spoke.
I remembered her leaning close to his ear.
His sudden dismissal.
The cold bus stop.
