only about the birthday.”
I frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“The bank had called her that afternoon.”
“And?”
“They were accelerating the business debt.”
I stared.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“That day?”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed because she was frightened.”
He nodded.
I sat very still.
It did not excuse what happened.
Nothing could return those fourteen hours.
But it changed the shape of the memory.
Selina’s birthday dinner had not simply been a selfish celebration.
Under the flowers, cake, and wine was a woman terrified that the business she
