My sister kissed my husband in front of thirty people at her own anniversary party and called it a joke. kertati Her husband had a wrapped present in his hands and an envelope she had never opened.

I had a mouthful of water and nearly choked.

Bram went scarlet.

Callan laughed.

I looked at him.

I waited.

I wanted him to say something that made it clear there was a line.

Instead, he smiled into his glass.

“Sasha,” I said quietly.

She turned toward me.

“What?”

“Don’t.”

She laughed.

“Oh, relax. You know I’m joking.”

But she wasn’t joking.

Not really.

She spent the entire evening at his elbow.

She asked him questions she could have asked me.

She touched his arm when she laughed.

She told an old story about when we were teenagers, then somehow turned it into a story about how Callan was “the husband she should have had.”

Three times.

Bram barely spoke.

On the drive home that night, I stared out the passenger window while the road lights passed across the windshield.

Finally, I said, “Why are you letting her do that?”