Very carefully.
As though his knees had stopped feeling reliable.
“My father?”
June nodded again.
“How old is he?”
“Thirty-eight.”
Adrian was forty-four.
For several seconds, he studied the photograph.
Then he looked around the table.
“Dinner is over.”
A few guests began speaking at once.
He stood.
“Please leave.”
There was no mistaking the request.
Chairs moved.
Coats were found.
People who had been delighted to be photographed beside him an hour earlier suddenly discovered urgent reasons to get home.
Celeste remained by the table.
“You’re not seriously going to let this pass.”
Adrian turned toward her.
“June’s history does not give you the right to threaten her.”
“She lied to you.”
“And you bought a debt to control her.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“Then it will be mine.”
He waited until Marcus approached.
Celeste looked from one man to the other.
Then she snatched up her clutch.
As she passed me, she stopped.
“You should remember what happens to staff who get too comfortable.”
My stomach tightened.
Before I could answer, June spoke.
“No.”
Celeste turned.
June had risen from her chair.
Adrian’s jacket hung loosely around her shoulders.
“You have said enough to people who cannot afford to answer you.”
Celeste’s face changed.
For the first time, she looked less certain that she had won anything.
Then she walked out.
Adrian asked June to join him in the breakfast room.
I began collecting glasses because my hands needed work.
He stopped beside me.
“What did she say to you?”
I glanced toward the door.
“It doesn’t matter.”
His expression shifted.
I had heard June use that exact sentence before.
Usually after someone had been unkind.
“It matters,” he said.
