I would have brought her with me.

I would have hired help.

You didn’t have to do it, and you certainly didn’t have to starve her while pretending you were.” “You,” she said, her voice going hard, “were very comfortable living your life out of state, while I did all the heavy lifting here.” And that one landed, because there was a grain of truth in it, buried in the cruelty.

“Yes,” I admitted, and my voice dropped.