Grace placed another folded shirt on the bed.
“Honestly, Tina, what are you two hiding in here?”
“My pants, occasionally,” I said.
“What are you two hiding in here?”
She ignored that.
“A family shouldn’t need all these barriers.”
The front door opened downstairs.
“Thank God,” I muttered.
Harold appeared at the end of the hallway, loosening his tie.
He saw me.
Then the empty doorway.
“A family shouldn’t need all these barriers.”
Then the door against the wall.
Then his mother.
“Mom.”
Grace smiled.
“Much better, isn’t it?”
Harold looked at the hardware on the carpet.
“A family shouldn’t need all these barriers,” she repeated.
“Much better, isn’t it?”
I waited for him to explode.
I was prepared to help.
Instead, he picked up one of the screws.
Then he looked at Grace.
“Did you use my drill?”
“The little one.”
“Of course.”
I waited for him to explode.
He put the screw down.
Then he took my hand.
“Come downstairs.”
I stared at him.
“Harold.”
“Come on.”
Grace went back to folding shirts as if we’d interrupted her.
“Come downstairs.”
I followed Harold into the kitchen.
The moment we were out of earshot, I pulled my hand free.
