I frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“We were idiots.”
“That part makes sense.”
For the first time all evening, something almost resembling a laugh moved through the room.
Mark didn’t smile.
“We saw Daniel happy again.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“And I think making it a joke made it easier for us.”
“For you.”
“Yes.”
“Not for me.”
“No.”
He nodded.
“You’re right.”
Daniel’s mother wiped her face.
“I hated that joke.”
I turned toward her.
“But you never stopped it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Her voice trembled.
“Because Joanna’s death almost destroyed him.”
She looked at Daniel.
“For years, we were afraid even saying her name would send him backward.”Explore Name Books
I stared at her.
“So everyone protected Daniel.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“And nobody thought about what that secrecy was doing to me.”
“No.”
The honesty hurt.
But at least it was honesty.
