Chapter 2 - What Had to Stay
Judith pulled Maren beside her and told Nolan, quietly, that touching her again would end the dinner. He stepped back, wearing the injured smile he used whenever cruelty failed. Blythe said, "Don't make a scene over one bad minute." The speed of her defense confirmed Judith's conclusion: mother and son had planned the humiliation together. Yet when Judith led Maren toward the lobby, Blythe called after them, "Leave the glass where it is." Not the purse. Not the coat. The glass. Outside, lake wind cut through their formal clothes. Maren refused urgent care and would not let Judith call anyone. "I need tonight to stay exactly what it was," she said. Judith heard shame and assumed Nolan had threatened her. She drove Maren to her condo, where Maren sat on the kitchen floor rather than the sofa. When Judith asked how long Nolan had handled her that way, Maren answered too quickly. "Tonight was different." She would not explain how, and she would not say why Blythe cared about a water glass.
