the mug upside down on a towel and pulled out a chair for me.
“You look tired,” she said.
“I am.”
She sat across from me and picked up the mug again, although it was already clean.
“What exactly did your mother tell you?”
Karen rubbed a thumb around the handle.
“She said she wanted to talk privately after the babies came.”
“About Leo?”
“Mostly Leo.”
“Why him?”
Karen looked toward the sink.
“I don’t know.”
“Did she use the word family?”
Karen nodded.
“She says that word when she wants something to sound settled.”
Karen put the mug down.
“She also said I should be there because I am his aunt.”
I waited.
“She did not tell me what she expected me to say.”
“Did she ask you to take him anywhere?”
Karen’s eyes lifted quickly.
“No.”
“Did she ask you to meet her somewhere?”
“She said I should
