She did not answer before I ended the call.

I stayed beside the sink after the call, looking at Claire’s name on the screen.

It was the same contact I had used for ordinary family things, the same name the boys said with “Aunt” in front of it.

I could not turn her into a stranger just because that would have made the betrayal easier to describe.

For a moment I wanted to call again and ask a different question: how she had listened to Daniel talk about a simpler life while knowing the people he would leave to manage the complicated one.

I could imagine her answer.