“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Margaret.”

“I wasn’t waiting up.”

Sabrina put her keys on the counter and looked at me, and she was twenty-seven and tired and she had a court date in nine weeks, and she said, “Yes, you were.”

I want to record what I said next, because it was the worst thing I said that winter, and I said it in a mild voice.

I said, “I only want to know that you’re safe. You’ll understand when Ava’s older.”