Suddenly Claire hated every detail.
This had never been Ellie’s party.
It had been Diane’s production.
Claire turned toward Luke.
“I’m taking her home.”
He nodded immediately.
“I’ll come.”
Diane stared.
“Luke.”
He ignored her.
His older brother, Andrew, appeared through the patio door.
“What’s going on?”
Luke grabbed Ellie’s little cardigan from the back of a chair.
“We’re leaving.”
Andrew looked from Luke to his mother.
Diane’s face was pale with anger.
“Apparently,” she said, “I committed a felony by putting frosting on a child.”
Claire stopped at the doorway.
“No.”
Diane looked at her.
“You humiliated a five-year-old after she trusted you enough to stand in front of everyone.”
Diane opened her mouth.
Claire continued.
“And the fact that you still think the problem is frosting is exactly why we’re leaving.”
She walked out.
Luke followed.
Ellie’s birthday ended at 2:17 in the afternoon.
At 2:43, she was asleep in the back seat of Luke’s SUV.
Claire sat beside her rather than in the front.
Ellie had cried for almost fifteen minutes after they left Diane’s house.
Then exhaustion took over.
She slept with her head against Claire’s side, still wearing the pink dress beneath Luke’s oversized gray sweatshirt.
Luke drove without speaking.
They had stopped at a gas station so Claire could clean the rest of the frosting from Ellie’s curls in the restroom.
The stains on the dress remained.
Claire looked out the window.
Luke glanced at her through the rearview mirror.
“I’m sorry.”
She did not answer immediately.
“For what?”
“My mother.”
“You didn’t do it.”
“I brought us there.”
“She’s Ellie’s grandmother. Going to her house shouldn’t require a risk assessment.”
Luke tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
“I should have known.”
That made Claire look at him.
“Known what?”
He was silent.
“Luke.”
He exhaled.
“She did the cake thing to us when we were kids.”
“You said that.”
“No. I mean every year.”
Claire stared.
“Every year?”
“Not always cake. Sometimes whipped cream. Once she dumped a glass of ice water over Andrew’s head because he fell asleep at the table.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
“How old?”
“Eight maybe.”
“And everybody laughed?”
Luke nodded.
“Mostly.”
“Did Andrew?”
Luke paused.
“No.”
Claire looked back at Ellie.
“You never told me.”
“It didn’t seem important.”
“It became important today.”