Grandma snapped, “If I need something, I’ll ask.”
Mom stepped away with the defeated expression of someone who had heard that exact sentence for most of her life.
For a while, everything felt almost normal.
Children ran between the kitchen and living room.
Someone spilled juice near the hallway.
Bryce’s sister took far too many pictures.
Sophie kept trying to pull the ribbon off one of her presents.
But Grandma wasn’t acting normal.
Throughout the party, she barely looked at the decorations.
She barely noticed the cake.
Instead, she watched my daughter.
Sophie.
At first, I thought it was sweet.
Grandma had only seen Sophie a handful of times. Maybe she was simply trying to memorize her face.
