Mia considered that. “But it doesn’t?”

“No,” Margaret said. “It only makes them easier to see.”

The car pulled away. For several blocks no one spoke. The silence felt different from the one at the party — that one had carried judgment; this one felt protective, and tired, and honest.

“I’m sorry,” Daniel said at last.

“For what?”

“For making you face them alone so long. For asking you to ignore things because they were ‘just comments.’ For pretending peace was the same as respect.”