“She can stick whatever she likes in the grass,” I said.

“That doesn’t make it legal.”

Lily looked down at the division problems on her worksheet.

“I don’t want to change schools for seventh grade,” she said.

“You won’t be changing schools.”

“You didn’t sound sure when you said that,” she said.

I reached over to pat her shoulder, but she scooted her chair two inches back from the table.

Mark came out to the detached workshop at two in the afternoon with two paper cups of black coffee from the gas station.