I know the difference now.

It took me a long time to learn it, but I know it.” Griselda’s face twisted.

“Without me,” she hissed, “you’d have ended up on the street.” Santiago took a slow breath, and when he answered, it was without heat, which made it land harder.

“Maybe I would have,” he said.

“But even the street has an open door.

In your house, I was afraid to breathe too loudly.

There’s a name for a place you’re afraid to breathe in, and it isn’t a home.”