the end of the night.
I braced myself.
She stood next to our table for a long moment. She looked at Edward. Then at me. Then at the girls.
“Hannah,” she said stiffly. “I owe you an apology.”
I almost dropped my fork.
“I laughed,” said Linda. “When Max said what he said. I’ve laughed at a lot of things he’s said over the years.” She looked down at her hands. “His father was the same way. I spent thirty-one years laughing so I wouldn’t cry.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“You’re a good mother,” Linda said. “You always have been. I should have said that a long time ago.” She turned to Edward. “That’s a beautiful mirror, young man. My father was a carpenter. He’d have liked those corners.”
Then she walked away before I could answer.
The father-daughter dance was a disaster.
Max tried. He came over
