Chapter 2

I pulled my arm from Tom’s grip.

“Let go of me.”

He glanced toward the dining room before releasing me.

“Did you have to say that in front of everyone?”

“It was the truth.”

“Kelly was livestreaming. The whole family watched you humiliate her.”

“She started the livestream. You made the announcement.”

Tom pressed his fingers to his forehead.

“Just get through dinner. Don’t bring it up again.”

He returned to the dining room with his smile back in place. Kelly set her phone facedown, but before the screen went dark, I saw more than a hundred comments beneath the video.

No one mentioned the move for the rest of the meal.

Margaret kept serving Kelly food. The family complimented the turkey without looking at me. Tom refilled everyone’s wine and told stories from work, determined to make the evening feel normal.

Kelly stayed in the living room, repeating the same answer whenever anyone asked about the move.

“Uncle Tom has taken care of everything.”

The last car left shortly after ten.

Kelly took the children back to their temporary place. Before leaving, Margaret hugged Tom and told me, “You need to think carefully about what you did tonight.”

As soon as the door closed, Tom began collecting glasses.

“You embarrassed everyone,” he said.

I lifted the wine-stained tablecloth from the table. “I embarrassed them?”

“Kelly cried the whole way home. She just lost her place to live, and you announced that she wasn’t welcome here.”

“I corrected a lie you told in front of my family.”

Tom put the glasses in the sink hard enough to make them knock together.

“It wasn’t a lie. We have an extra room, and she needs somewhere to stay. This is the most sensible solution.”

“When did you promise her?”

He turned on the faucet and rinsed the wine from a glass.

“Two weeks ago.”

I stopped folding the tablecloth.

Two weeks earlier, Tom had helped me move an old chair out of that office, saying I deserved something more comfortable.

He had already promised the room to Kelly.

“You had fourteen days to tell me.”

“I was waiting for the right time.”

“And you chose Thanksgiving dinner?”

“I thought seeing the kids would help you understand.”

“You thought I wouldn’t refuse in front of twenty-three people.”

Tom turned off the water and leaned against the sink.

“I knew your first answer would be no. You always need to calculate the work, the time, and the cost. Kelly can’t wait for you to examine every detail.”

“So you left me out of the decision.”

“I solved a problem.”

“With my office. You also promised her my time.”

“You work from home. How difficult can it be to adjust? Move your desk into the laundry room and help with the school run during the day. Once Kelly finds a job, everything goes back to normal.”

I pushed the tablecloth into the washing machine but didn’t start it.

“Call her tomorrow and cancel the move.”

Tom picked up a dish towel.

“I’m not sending her to a motel after I gave her my word.”

My phone rang on the counter.

Margaret.

I put the call on speaker.

“I’ll be brief,” she said without waiting for me. “You know how much Kelly’s father did for Tom before he died. When Tom was short on tuition money, his brother covered it. Tom always said he would look out for Kelly if she ever needed him. What will giving up one room cost you?”

Tom stared down at the towel in his hands.

His brother had been dead for six years. I understood why Tom still felt indebted to him. What I did not understand was why that debt had to be repaid with my room, my work, and my time.

“That debt belongs to Tom,” I said. “He can honor his brother without making promises on my behalf.”

“Since when do married people keep score like that?”

“Since he started offering other people my office.”

I heard her breath through the speaker.

“You already hurt two children tonight. Don’t make this uglier than it needs to be.”

She ended the call.

Tom dropped the towel on the counter. “She’s right.”

I stopped arguing.

I opened our family group chat to save the messages from dinner. A shared photo album had appeared under Kelly’s name.

The first picture showed my office.

There were photographs of my desk, filing cabinet, bookcase, and the wall I used as a background for client calls. Each had been taken from a different angle.

In the final image, a tape measure stretched from one wall to the space beneath the window.

The photos had been sent eleven days ago.

Long before tonight, Tom had given Kelly the measurements of my office.