"Give him here."
***
Derek arrived the next evening looking furious.
"My mother called me," he said as I let him in. "She wanted to see you and the boys. I had to tell her you weren't home."
"And?"
"She asked why."
I watched his jaw tighten.
"My mother called me."
"What did you tell her?"
"The truth, apparently."
That surprised me.
Derek looked toward the living room.
"She asked whether I'd been helping since you broke your arm."
"What did you tell her?"
"And?"
"I told her you're home with the boys, and I'm at work all day."
I waited.
Derek rubbed the back of his neck.
"Then she asked why you had to leave the house just to get someone to help you."
"What did you say?"
"I told her you're home with the boys."
He looked away.
"Nothing."
"Why not?"
His jaw tightened. "Because I knew how it sounded."
Before I could answer, Miles started crying. Derek looked at me automatically.
"Hope?"
"Why not?"
I stayed where I was.
