All three thanked the workers.

I stood against the wall, painfully aware that I was the only person who did not know where to put myself.

“Could we talk?” I asked.

“We are talking,” Marianne said.

“I mean privately.”

“You and I can speak later.

Today belongs to Chloe and Sophie.”

For the first time in my adult life, I wanted to obey a boundary rather than defeat it.