LaptopsVilla

Under the Oak Table

He handed us everything.

Then my father reached over and, almost gently, tapped the top of the old radio.

“You just gave us every word we needed, Damian.”

A tiny red light was glowing on the side of the speaker.

Chapter 13 — Our Eyes Met

Damian shot to his feet so fast his chair went over backward.

He stared at the radio like it had grown teeth.

And then he heard it — the smallest rustle, my dress shifting against the floor, the sound of a held breath that couldn’t be held any longer — and his eyes dropped to the hem of the tablecloth.

I lifted it.

I don’t fully remember deciding to.

I looked out at him from under my mother’s table, and my husband looked back down at me, and I watched the whole architecture of his face collapse.

I had spent twelve years being looked at by that man with manufactured warmth.

I had never once, in all that time, seen his real face.

I saw it now.

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