Lily has been waiting, I said, and my voice was very even, the way it gets when I am holding something still.

Sarah, he said, do not make this harder than it needs to be.

You promised her, I said.

We decided to spend the afternoon with Danny.

Why.

He was quiet.

And then he said the sentence I have turned over more times than any other sentence anyone has ever said to me.

We do not count your family the same.