“That sounds suspiciously wise.”
“I read it on a cereal box.”
She smiled.
But something in her eyes had changed.
Hope, perhaps.
Or fear.
At 2:13 a.m., her phone buzzed.
Michael.
She looked at the screen.
It buzzed again.
Then again.
“Are you going to answer?”
“No.”
She turned it facedown.
A minute later, my phone rang.
Daniel.
I answered.
“Hey.”
“Where are you?”
I looked at Karen.
“At a diner.”
“With my mom?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She didn’t want to go home yet.”
Another pause.
Longer this time.
Then Daniel sighed.
“Dad told me.”
That explained the strange tone in his voice earlier.
“You knew?”
“Not everything. He called me after I called you.”
Karen’s face tightened.
“What did he tell you?” I asked.
“That they’re separating.”
“That’s one way to put it.”
Karen shook her head.
Daniel heard the tone in my voice.
“Is Mom okay?”
