Chapter 1 - The Cloche Beside My Phone
The crystal glasses caught the light first. I saw them from the doorway, two cut crystal water glasses in the foreground throwing small sharp prisms across the dark wood, and behind them Eleanor Bennett sat perfectly straight in her burgundy satin dress, silver hair pulled back, teardrop earrings not moving at all. She smiled at me like she had been waiting to use me. The room smelled of roast and hot wax, warm and low, and Daniel was already seated in his navy blazer over a white shirt, his brown hair side-parted and neat, a blonde woman in red just behind his shoulder. No one stood to greet me. That was the contradiction I felt in my chest: I had been invited late, then welcomed like bait.
My name is Claire, and I was already standing before I understood I was too late to stay seated.
It was evening, the same dinner, the same table. The paneling soaked up the sound. I had just walked in, still holding my purse strap too tight, when Eleanor folded her hands and looked around the table. "Now that Claire's finally here, I can tell everyone." Her voice was controlled and pleasant. Daniel frowned and turned toward her. "Tell them what?" he asked. The crystal blurred for a second when I breathed. Eleanor kept her composed smile and said it plainly, to him, not to me. "Claire won't be part of this family much longer."
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Daniel stared at her. "Mom, what are you talking about?" His tone had gone tense. I didn't answer him yet. I walked the last two steps to the table and took my dark blue cased phone from my purse and set it face-down on the wood, right next to the reflective silver serving cloche. The cloche was cold against my fingertips. The phone made a soft, flat sound. I left my hand there a half second longer than I needed to.
Eleanor's eyes dropped to the phone. "Put that phone away." I looked back at her and kept my voice steady. "Before I leave, everyone should hear this." Daniel shifted in his chair, confused, then alarmed. He turned toward me, the woman in red moving just out of focus behind him. "Claire, what is that?" he asked. I didn't look down. "Ask your mother."
