Michelle’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Then Michelle said something that changed my anger into shock.
“I wanted to see if he would look at me differently.”
Laura recoiled.
Michelle pressed her palms against the counter.
“I’m not proud of it. I didn’t touch him. I didn’t expose myself. I didn’t plan anything beyond that stupid moment. But yes—I wanted to know.”
My mother’s face hardened.
“Why?”
Michelle laughed bitterly.
“Because I have been alone for six years, Laura.”
“That isn’t his responsibility.”
“I know.”
“Then why him?”
Michelle looked at me.
Something broke across her face.
“Because he saw me.”
The room became still.
She turned back toward my mother.
“Do you remember Daniel?”
Laura’s anger shifted.
Of course she remembered.
Everyone did.
Daniel had been Michelle’s fiancé.
He had left six weeks before their wedding after admitting he had been having an affair with someone from his office.
