“You did.”
“I said you made her stand beside the table while everyone else ate.”
“Yes.”
“That is exactly what happened.”
Diane looked toward Emma.
“She had food.”
Michael looked at the bread on the floor.
“One roll.”
“She had dinner waiting.”
“When?”
“After the consequence.”
“When was the consequence over?”
Diane hesitated.
Michael saw.
“When you finished?”
“Yes.”
Lucas looked up.
Michael stared.
“So dinner ends when the adults are full.”
“That is not what I meant.”
“But it is how it works.”
Diane’s voice rose.
“She took food after I explicitly told her not to.”
Michael kept his voice low.
“I understand.”
“She challenged me.”
“She ate bread.”
“She disobeyed.”
“She ate bread.”
Diane laughed bitterly.
“This is why she does not respect me.”
Michael’s expression changed.
“Maybe because everything becomes a contest of authority.”
The words landed harder than he expected.
Diane stared.
“Excuse me?”
Michael realized they were moving into the marriage.
Not yet.
Not in front of children.
He looked toward Emma.
She was not eating.
Fork in hand.
Watching.
Lucas too.
Michael pulled out the chair beside Emma.
“Eat.”
She looked at him.
“Are you staying?”
“Yes.”
He sat.
Then looked toward Lucas.
“Finish if you want.”
Lucas nodded.
Diane stood alone.
For perhaps ten seconds, nobody said anything.
Then she turned.
“I’m going upstairs.”
Michael answered:
“Okay.”
She stopped at the doorway.
Apparently she had expected him to follow.
He did not.
She left.
Emma took one bite of rice.
Michael looked at her.
“Good?”
She nodded.
Then began crying again.
He pulled her chair slightly closer.
Emma leaned against him while eating.
Lucas stared.
After a minute Michael asked:
“You okay?”
Lucas shrugged.
“That is not an answer.”
“I don't know.”
Michael nodded.
“Fair.”
Lucas pushed food around his plate.
Then whispered:
“Mom does it when you’re gone.”
Michael stopped.
The room became silent again.
Emma looked at her brother.
Lucas stared at his plate.
Michael’s voice changed.
“Does what?”
Lucas swallowed.
“Rules.”
Michael waited.
“All the extra rules.”
“What extra rules?”
Lucas looked toward the hallway where Diane disappeared.
Michael saw fear.
He leaned back.
“Listen to me.”
Lucas looked up.
“I’m not asking you to choose between me and your mom.”
The boy’s eyes filled.
“You are not betraying her by telling me what happens in our house.”
Lucas said nothing.
Michael continued: