That is a man whose gentleness was always conditional on your obedience, and I had just discovered the condition.

The red marks faded in a day.

What they showed me did not.

Chapter 5 — Half a Cucumber

At eight o’clock there was a knock, and her parents were finally there, carrying a bouquet and a box of chocolates, apologizing before they were even through the door.

They took in the table — the dirty platters, the empty serving dishes — and their faces did the thing that broke Odalind’s heart, which was to smile, quickly, to cover their own embarrassment, as if being served an empty table were somehow a thing they should apologize for.