“Calling for medical help was an option.”

Her eyes filled.

“We should have done that.”

It was the first sentence she had spoken that did not contain a reason why someone else was responsible.

I wanted to ask whether she’d ever liked me.

I wanted to ask why she spoke about her granddaughter as though she were a failed attempt to produce a grandson.

But those questions, however painful, were separate from the night of the fall.

“Piper thinks you were angry with her for trying to help me,” I said.