watching me be quiet for eighteen months.
And tonight she’d watched somebody stand up for me. And it had taught her that she could stand up too.
“I’m so proud of you,” I whispered.
Ava shrugged. But she leaned her head against my arm.
At the end of the night, Max carried the girls out to my car himself. June was asleep on his shoulder. Ava walked beside him, not talking.
Edward was standing by the car.
Max buckled June into her car seat. He kissed her forehead. He hugged Ava. She let him, stiffly.
Then he straightened up and looked at Edward.
They stood there for a moment, two men in the parking lot of a country club at eleven o’clock at night.
“You made a fool of me,” Max said quietly. There wasn’t any anger in it anymore. He just sounded tired.
“No,” said Edward. “I
