Chương 3
“She was on the phone.”
“With who?”
“I don't know.”
“A man or a woman?”
“A man.”
Noah lifted his head.
“The kitchen man.”
Lily looked at him.
“It wasn't the kitchen man.”
“He said cabinets.”
Daniel felt something small and cold move through his chest.
“What did he say about cabinets?”
Noah frowned with concentration.
“He said they couldn't do it.”
“Do what?”
Noah shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Daniel looked at Lily.
She had gone very still.
“Did you hear more?”
“A little.”
“What?”
“She said she needed it done before you found out.”
Daniel did not move.
Outside, Claire finally stood.
She picked up her phone from the table and looked toward the house.
Daniel rose immediately.
“Stay here.”
Lily caught his sleeve.
“Don't go outside.”
“I need to talk to her.”
“She gets worse when people leave.”
The sentence stopped him.
Daniel looked down at her.
“What does that mean?”
Lily's eyes filled again, and she wiped them hard with the heel of her palm.
“When you go to work.”
Daniel crouched in front of her.
“What happens when I go to work?”
Lily looked toward the glass doors.
Claire was walking closer now.
Not fast.
Not slowly either.
“She yells more.”
“At you?”
“Sometimes.”
“At Noah?”
Lily nodded.
Noah pressed his face into her shoulder.
Daniel felt heat rise behind his eyes.
He had to look away.
His gaze landed on the open briefcase.
One of his pens had rolled halfway under a console table.
The absurd normality of it made his stomach turn.
He reached for his phone.
Claire was at the glass now.
She knocked once.
Not because the door was locked, but because Daniel had slid the latch into place.
Her face changed when she noticed.
“Daniel.”
He walked closer without opening the door.
Claire held up her phone.
“We need to talk.”
“We are talking.”
“Not through glass.”
“That's how you looked safe enough to me twenty minutes ago.”
Her jaw flexed.
“Don't do this.”
“What am I doing?”
“You're making me into something.”
“You put our children in a shed and latched the door.”
“For less than a minute.”
“You don't get points for duration.”
Claire looked past him.
“Lily.”
Daniel stepped directly into her line of sight.
“No.”
Her eyes returned to him.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
She lowered her voice.
“You came home in the middle of a bad moment and now you're acting like you've uncovered some secret life.”
Daniel said nothing.
Claire stared at him.
Her expression shifted almost imperceptibly.
“What did they tell you?”
That question told him more than any answer could have.
He unlocked the door but did not open it.
“Sit back down.”
“Daniel.”
“Sit down.”
She laughed once under her breath.
“You are enjoying this.”
He opened the door then.
Not wide enough for her to pass.
“Say that again.”
Claire's face hardened.
“You always need to be the reasonable one.”
“I'm trying very hard to be reasonable right now.”
“No, you're trying to win.”
“This isn't about winning.”
“It always is with you.”
Daniel glanced back at the children.
Lily was watching.
He lowered his voice.
“Go sit down.”
Claire's eyes flashed.
For a moment, he thought she might push past him.
Instead she turned and walked back to the table.
Daniel closed the door again.
He called his sister.
Rachel answered on the second ring.
“You land early?”
“I need you to come over.”
His own voice sounded foreign.
There was a pause.
“What happened?”
“Just come.”
“Daniel.”
“The kids are okay.”
Another pause.
Then Rachel's tone changed.
“I’m leaving now.”
“Don't call Claire.”
“I wasn't going to.”
Daniel ended the call.
Lily had slid off the sofa.
“Is Aunt Rachel coming?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To stay with you and Noah for a little while.”
Noah looked alarmed.
“Are you leaving?”
“No.”
Daniel crossed the room and knelt beside them.
“I'm not leaving you.”
Lily searched his face as if the wording mattered.
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
He stopped himself.
“No.”
Her eyes widened.
“I mean, I'm not going to make you a promise I can't explain.”
He took her hand.
“I am here now, and I am staying with you while we figure out what happens next.”
Lily considered that.
Then she nodded.
Daniel hated himself a little for being relieved by her approval.
His phone vibrated.
A message from Claire appeared.
Please don't bring Rachel into this.
Another followed.
You know how she is about me.
Daniel read the second message twice.
Then a third appeared.
I made a mistake.
That one was gone almost immediately.
Claire had deleted it.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Lily noticed.
“What did she say?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
He regretted the sentence at once.
It sounded exactly like the kind of thing adults said when they were hiding the shape of danger from children.
He put the phone down.
“Actually, she said she doesn't want Aunt Rachel here.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Lily's eyes dropped.
“I do.”
Daniel waited.
“She thinks Aunt Rachel doesn't like her.”
“Does Mom talk to you about that?”
“Sometimes.”
“What does she say?”
Lily shifted from one foot to the other.
“That Aunt Rachel thinks she's a bad mom.”
Noah looked up.
“Aunt Rachel said that?”
Lily shook her head.
“Mom said Aunt Rachel thinks it.”
Daniel rubbed one hand over his face.
Last Thanksgiving, Rachel had made an offhand comment about Lily knowing how to pour her own wine-sized glass of sparkling water.
Claire had gone quiet for an hour afterward.
Daniel had assumed she was irritated by his sister's habit of making jokes that landed half an inch too close to criticism.
Now he wondered how many private arguments had grown from things nobody had actually said.
A car door slammed in the front drive.
Rachel had made the trip in twelve minutes.
May you like
Daniel went to the entry hall.
She came in carrying her purse and still wearing navy scrub pants under a gray cardigan.
