So did Patricia and Melissa.

Patricia still wore her shoes, meaning she had stayed specifically to confront me.

Mark stood.

Do you have any idea how that looked?

Not hello.

Not congratulations.

Not I’m sorry.

That.

I removed my heels.

How what looked?

Looked the whole thing.

He gestured toward the now-dark television.

That speech?

Evelyn’s speech?

Yes.

What about it?

Mark stared.

Come on, Clare.

I’m asking.

It sounded like she was talking about us.

I paused.

That’s interesting.

Patricia folded her arms.

Oh, please.

I looked at her.

She didn’t know your name.

Silence.

Melissa lowered her eyes.

Mark rubbed the back of his neck.

You told her what happened.

She asked why I had a piece of my gown tied around my wrist and you just happened to tell her.

I told her your mother cut it up because she wanted me home serving pot roast.

Patricia leaned forward.

You make it sound ridiculous.

I looked at her.

I don’t think I did that part.

Melissa covered her mouth.

I couldn’t tell whether she was hiding a smile.

Patricia saw it.

This isn’t funny.

No, I said.

It really isn’t.

She stood.

If that award was such a major event, why didn’t you tell us?

That stopped me.

I did.

No, you didn’t. You said you were receiving some award for your organization.

Yes.

You never said it was televised. You never said Evelyn Grant would be there. You certainly never mentioned a quarter of a million dollars.

I stared at her.

Then I understood.

She wasn’t asking why I hadn’t told her the award mattered.

She wanted to know why I hadn’t supplied enough evidence for her to agree it mattered.

I told you it was important to me.

Patricia looked away.

My next question came more quietly.

Why wasn’t that enough?

The room shut down.

Even Mark seemed to hear it.

He stepped closer, his face changing.

For the first time that evening, he looked ashamed.

Clare.

I waited.

I didn’t know it meant that much to you.

There it was.

Almost 23 years of marriage, and for about 3 seconds, I thought he had finally reached the point.

Then he said, “But you still could have handled mom better.”

I laughed.

Just once.

Mark frowned.

What?

Nothing.

No. What?

I looked at him.