“Thank you,” she said. “I am not ready for you to come over whenever you want.”
“I understand.”
“And if you ever speak to me that way again, the visit ends.”
Eleanor nodded.
“I understand that too.”
Before that visit, Olivia and Ethan agreed on a simple signal. If Olivia touched the edge of her mug twice, Ethan would end the visit without asking her to justify why. They never needed to use it, but knowing the exit existed made the room feel safer.
The first visit happened two weeks later.
Eleanor came for one hour.
She brought no advice.
That was almost suspicious.
She held Lily while Olivia drank coffee. She helped Noah find a missing puzzle piece. When she noticed dishes in the sink, she looked at them, then looked away.
Olivia nearly smiled.
Before leaving, Eleanor paused beside the unfinished birthday decorations that were still in a box near the pantry.
“I ruined that day,” she said.
“You hurt it,” Olivia replied. “You did not get to own the whole day.”
Eleanor nodded.
That sentence became important later.
For months, Olivia had remembered Lily’s birthday as the afternoon she finally broke in front of Ethan. Then Noah kept asking why they had never finished the decorations.
So on Lily’s half-birthday, Olivia took the box out.
“We are using these,” she announced.
Ethan stared at her.
“All of them?”
“Every ridiculous one.”
They hung the crooked banner. Noah taped paper stars to the lower cabinets. Ethan found the unopened string lights and wrapped them around the window too loosely. Olivia baked cupcakes while Lily sat in a high chair smearing banana across the tray.
Eleanor had been invited for the last hour.
When she arrived, she stopped in the doorway.
The kitchen was messy.
The sink contained dishes.
Noah had frosting on his shirt.
Olivia was laughing.
