« Mom? »
Her shoulders stiffened.
« Did you know? »
She looked up.
« Mark, honey— »
« Did you know Victoria told Ethan to eat somewhere else? »
After a long pause, she whispered, « Yes. »
« Did you know he was in the garage? »
Her eyes filled with tears.
« Yes. »
I felt physically sick.
« And you left him there? »
« I didn’t want to start an argument in front of everybody. »
That answer hurt more than I expected.
Because Victoria had never pretended to particularly like me.
But my mother had always preached that family came first.
Apparently, keeping the peace came before protecting her grandson.
I stared at her.
« Ethan spent three hours helping me today. He did that because he saw I needed him. »
My throat tightened.
« And when he needed one adult to help him, everyone who knew decided it was more important not to make things uncomfortable. »
Nobody spoke.
Victoria muttered, « You’re acting like I threw him into the street. »
