“You’ve been in Europe for five weeks, Valerie, so don’t tell me how to run this house.”

His voice stayed soft, kept just low enough that it wouldn’t carry across the street to Mary’s windows.

“I’ve been running this build site and holding this household together while you sat in seventy-two-degree conference rooms in Munich,” he said.

“Don’t come back here acting like a guest in your own home.”

“Where are the papers that were on your desk?” I asked.

He didn’t blink.