CHAPTER 3
Vanessa’s face changed in the way guilty people change when they still think beauty can save them.
She smoothed the front of her white dress.
“She was being difficult,” she said.
Michael stared at her.
“Difficult?”
“She refused lunch.”
Lily shook her head quickly, but no words came out.
Michael saw it.
The fear of correcting an adult.
The shame of needing to explain pain.
He gently wiped crumbs from Lily’s chin with his thumb.
“You never apologize for being hungry,” he said.
Lily’s little mouth trembled.
Then she folded into him.
Michael pulled her safely into his arms, one hand behind her head, the other around her tiny shoulders. She buried her face into his suit jacket and shook without making noise.
That silence nearly destroyed him.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Michael, don’t turn this into something dramatic.”
He looked over his shoulder.
His voice was low.
“When did she get that bandage?”
May you like
Vanessa’s lips parted.
The kitchen went still.
