Another pause.
“You ask if dinner tastes good.”
Ryan looked down.
Amelia’s voice got smaller.
“You don’t ask if I’m mad.”
“I ask you things all the time.”
I stopped several feet away.
Ryan finally said, “Are you mad at me?”
Amelia nodded.
Just once.
Ryan looked at her for a long time.
He took a breath and nodded once. “Okay.”
I had never heard him answer her like that before.
No excuse.
No “someday you’ll understand.”
Just okay.
I had never heard him answer her like that before.
Then Amelia saw me.
“Mom!”
She dropped the candle onto the bench and ran.
I knelt as she crashed into me.
“Mom, I ruined Dad’s wedding.”
“No, baby.”
“I did.”
“You got upset.” I pulled her back enough to see her face. “That is not the same thing.”
“Mom, I ruined Dad’s wedding.”
Ryan stood behind her.
“Annie…”
I looked at him.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Amelia wiped her cheeks.
Then, out of nowhere, she said, “Everybody keeps saying there were six of us.”
I looked at Ryan.
He looked confused too.
Amelia started counting on her fingers.
“Mom. Dad. Me. The other three.”
“Everybody keeps saying there were six of us.”
