Chapter 2 - Put That Phone Away
Daniel's voice was still hanging over the table when I set the phone down. "Claire, what is that?"
I didn't answer him right away. The dark blue case made a soft sound against the wood as I laid it face-down next to the serving cloche. The silver dome threw back the low light and threw back my hand, too, for half a second. The crystal glasses in front of Eleanor caught the same light. Nobody reached for their water.
My hand stayed on the table a beat longer than it needed to. I could feel the heat coming off the plates that hadn't been cleared. Behind Daniel, the woman in red stopped chewing. She didn't stand up. She didn't look at me, either.
Eleanor smiled. It wasn't warm. It was the same composed smile she'd worn when she said I wouldn't be part of this family much longer, her silver hair pulled tight back, her teardrop earrings catching as she turned her head. Her hands were folded in her lap over that burgundy satin dress like she had all night to do this.
"Mom, what are you talking about?" Daniel said. He turned from me back to her. His blazer pulled at his shoulder when he shifted. His white shirt had come untucked on one side and he didn't seem to know it.
Eleanor didn't look at the phone at first. She looked at him. "Daniel," she said, and her voice went tight in a way I'd only heard once before, in her kitchen last spring. "Put that phone away."
The room went very still. The paneling seemed to pull the sound in and hold it. I could hear the faint tick of the big clock down the hall and someone's fork resting too carefully against porcelain.
I kept my eyes on Eleanor. "Before I leave, everyone should hear this."
Daniel looked between us. First at his mother, then at me, then back at his mother. His brow was knotted. He put one hand flat on the table as if he needed something solid. "Claire," he said, quieter now. "What did you —"
"She's upset," Eleanor cut in. She unfolded her hands and placed one on the tablecloth, fingers spread. "This is a family dinner. This is not the place for whatever this is." She glanced down at the phone like it was something spilled. "Put that phone away."
"No," I said.
It came out calm. Steadier than I felt. My heart was beating so hard I was sure the black top I wore would show it, but my voice didn't shake. I slid my hand back from the phone and left it there, face-down, exactly where everyone could see it.
Daniel exhaled. "Mom. Claire. Somebody just tell me what's going on."
The woman in red shifted in her chair. Her blonde hair moved over the shoulder of her red dress. She reached for her napkin, then set it down again without using it. When Daniel glanced toward her, as if she might help him, she looked down at her plate. She didn't take a side. She made herself small and let the silence do the work.
Eleanor noticed it, too. I saw her jaw tighten for just a second before she smoothed her expression again. She was used to being listened to at this table. The dark wood, the low evening light, the careful settings — all of it was hers. She lifted her chin.
"Daniel, your wife is trying to turn a pleasant evening into a scene," she said. "I will not have it."
I didn't move toward the phone. I didn't need to touch it to keep it there. "If it's nothing," I said, "then let everyone hear it."
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Daniel stared at me. His mouth opened, then closed. He looked at the phone by the cloche, face-down and silent, and then at his mother in her burgundy dress, seated so straight, so composed, with only that tightness in her voice giving her away.
Nobody picked it up. Nobody put it away.
