“Did you buy those silver clippers just for last night?” I asked.

Eleanor raised her earthenware cup and took a long sip, her eyes fixed on my face the entire time.

“See how simple life gets when you let your husband handle the hard things?” she said, putting her cup down with a quiet, deliberate tap.

“A house runs the way it should when the authority sits in one person’s hands.”

“Does Daniel handle your private bank accounts too?” I asked.

“A son always protects his mother’s finances,” she said, her voice tightening into a clipped register.