This time, I raised my phone.
“I am calling the police if you touch me again.”
Daniel moved between us.
Not quickly enough to erase the first time.
But he moved.
“Melissa. Stop.”
She stared at him.
Then at me.
Then she walked back into the house and slammed the garage door hard enough to rattle the shelves.
I called my sister Linda first.
She answered cheerfully.
I said, “Did Daniel ask you if I could stay longer?”
The silence on her end told me he had.
“Why are you asking?”
“When?”
“Susan—”
“When did he call?”
“Two days ago.”
I closed my eyes.
Linda explained that Daniel said there were going to be repairs at the house and asked whether I might extend my visit another week. She told him I already had plans at home and that he should ask me directly.
He never did.
“What repairs?” I asked.
“He didn’t say.”
There had been no repairs.
They simply needed more time.
More time to move furniture.
More time to pack boxes.
More time to make the smaller bedroom look like a decision I had already accepted.
Linda’s voice changed.
“What happened?”
