“It’s all right,” I said.

“Yes.

I did.

I didn’t like it much.”

He thought about that for a moment and then he said, “Okay,” and went away, and Jessi put her hands flat on the table.

“Right,” she said.

And we had the conversation, in a kitchen, in whispers, with a cartoon going, for about forty minutes.

She did not shout at me.