“Did you know she was outside?”
Claire’s lips parted.
“Daniel…”
“Did you know?”
She didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
I stared at her.
“How long?”
“About twenty minutes.”
“Twenty minutes?”
“She needed to cool down.”
I laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“She’s sixteen, Claire.”
“I was going to go get her.”
“When?”
She looked away.
Martin interrupted.
“This is ridiculous.”
I turned toward him.
“No. What’s ridiculous is that you threw your granddaughter outside on Christmas Eve because she defended her father.”
“She was disrespectful.”
“To you?”
“To this family.”
I took one step forward.
“Don’t ever confuse disrespecting you with disagreeing with you.”
Martin’s face hardened.
Then Claire walked toward the table.
She picked up a folder.
My stomach tightened.
She walked back to me.
“I think we need to stop doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Living like this.”
She handed me the folder.
I opened it.
