“You sound like Dad.”
“Your father learned it from me.”
Marcus smiled despite himself.
Then his eyes filled.
“Why didn’t you stop me tonight?”
Ruth frowned.
“Stop you from what?”
“Letting Amber talk to you like that.”
Ruth looked at him for a long moment.
“I was waiting to see if you would.”
His face collapsed slightly.
“That’s worse.”
“Yes.”
“I failed.”
“Yes.”
Ruth did not soften it.
Marcus covered his face with both hands.
Ruth let him sit with it.
When he lowered them, he looked younger.
“Do you hate her?”
“No.”
He looked surprised.
“Should I?”
“That is not my decision.”
“After tonight?”
“Especially after tonight.”
Ruth pushed the plate slightly toward him.
He picked up a potato with his fingers.
She slapped his hand lightly.
“Use a fork.”
He laughed once.
Then the laugh became something close to crying.
Ruth looked away to give him privacy.
The next morning, Amber called Loretta.
Not with Ruth present.
Not with Marcus.
Alone.
The conversation lasted forty-three minutes.
Marcus learned about it only afterward.
Amber did not tell him everything.
