“I did not forget writing a check.”
“You told me you did.”
“I asked you what it was for.”
“That is the same problem.”
“No,” Adaline said. “One is confusion. The other is suspicion.”
Claire’s face tightened. “Please don’t make this ugly.”
Adaline looked at Ruth. “Do you agree with her?”
Ruth hesitated. “I think something has to change.”
“Something will.”
That evening, Claire, Ruth, and their brother Daniel sat around the oak dining table where Adaline had served birthdays, apologies, and the last meal before her husband Samuel entered the hospital.
Daniel glanced at the empty plates. “Are we eating?”
“No,” Adaline said. “Tonight we are digesting something else.”