Chapter 3

Marilyn placed the seating cards before anyone arrived at the Sunday house.

The long table held twenty names in careful black ink.

A smaller table by the windows had paper cups, crayons, and six children's names.

Theo's card was there. At the head of the children's table sat Sloane's.

Mine waited at the far end of the long table, two rows of chairs and the width of the room away from my son.

“You've been up all night, sweetheart,” Marilyn said when she saw me looking. “I put you where it's quiet.”

“I can sit with the children.”

“Sloane already offered to watch them. Just eat while your food is hot for once.”

Dominic came behind me carrying a bowl. “Mom's trying to give you a break.”

“Marilyn just wanted you to rest,” an aunt said as she passed.

“Nobody's keeping you from him,” Dominic added.

Marilyn straightened a fork. “It's not like the seats mean anything.”

I picked up my card, read NORA, and put it back in the same place. Then I sat down.

The room filled. Every chair around Theo was claimed before the soup came out.

Sloane opened his juice and tied an apron around the youngest cousin.

Across the room, she looked useful in the exact way everyone expected.

Bea had once told me the school accepted the name on the form.

If I walked in saying the form was wrong, they would ask which line was incorrect. I had not known what to point at.

I had asked whether a teacher could correct a misunderstanding.

Bea had asked what the teacher had been told.

When I could not answer, she slid her untouched glass across the café table to me.

She had handed me water that day and said nothing when I whispered, “Maybe I wasn't there enough to count.”

At dinner, I watched Theo show Sloane how the dog's ears should be colored. Dominic leaned close.

“You okay?”

“I'm tired.”

“That's why Mom seated you here.”

“I asked to sit there.”

“You can go over after dinner.”

Marilyn heard him. “Nora, nobody's keeping score.”

“I didn't say they were.”

“Then don't make yourself miserable over a place card.”

Dominic touched my wrist. “She's only trying to help.”

“I know.”

“Sloane's watching all six children.”

“I can see that.”

“You wanted to eat.”

“I wanted to sit beside my son.”

The front door opened. A man I had seen at two weddings and one funeral stepped into the room, removed his coat, and looked first at the long table, then at the children.

Someone called, “Emmett, we saved you a seat.”

He did not move toward it.

“Is that Theo?” he asked.

“Yes,” Marilyn said. “Sloane's keeping an eye on the children.”

“And Nora?”

“She needs the quiet.”

“She worked last night,” Dominic said.

“That's why Sloane handles these things.”

Emmett looked at the card in front of me, then at the one beside Theo.

“Why isn't Theo's mother sitting with Theo?” Emmett said.