“I’m just counting, Victoria,” I said.

“Counting what?” My mother’s voice cut in, sharp with the disgust she had been carrying toward me for three years.

“Have some dignity, Elise. Look what you’ve done to this family. Look at how you drove that man away.”

I didn’t answer her. I watched the second hand.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, even then, a small and stubborn part of me grieved.

These were my parents.