“You are.” I did not say we are.

I said you are.

He did not notice the difference.

He would.

Chapter 13 — The Return

They returned home several days later — deeply tanned, laughing, pulling their expensive suitcases behind them as though they were arriving back at their private palace after a well-earned holiday.

I watched from across the street, sitting in the passenger seat of Andrew’s car, parked at the curb where I had a clear view of the front door.

My daughter slept safely in her car seat in the back, and I kept one hand resting on her small chest, feeling it rise and fall, while I watched the family who had locked us out walk up the path to the house they no longer had any right to enter.