Page 218 of Say My Name

I’m not going to manage that anger into something more convenient for me.

The doorbell rings.

Elena straightens, but she doesn’t move away until I stand. Then she catches my hand and squeezes once.

“I’m here,” she says. The words are a quiet anchor in the charged silence.

“I know.”

When I open the door, Cliff is standing in the hall with his coat unbuttoned and both hands empty. No overnight bag. No food. Nothing to give him a reason to delay the conversation he came to have.

“Rachel and the kids?” I ask.

“Picking up lunch. Sophie rejected my first two suggestions, so I left Rachel to negotiate.”

“That seems cowardly.” The usual banter feels thin, but I reach for it anyway.

“It was strategic.”

The familiar answer doesn’t come with a smile. He steps inside, and his eyes go directly to Elena.

She hasn’t hidden the evidence that she’s here. Her coat hangs beside mine. Her key rests in the dish by the door. The low heels she wore to work yesterday sit beneath the bench because she claims she intends to take them back to her condo and has forgotten three mornings in a row.

Cliff takes all of it in before he reaches his sister.

“Hi,” Elena says.

“Hi.”

He hugs her hard enough to lift her slightly. Elena’s arms close around him, and some of the strain across his face eases.

“Are you okay?” he asks when he puts her down.

“Yes.”

“Actually okay?”

She gives him the same patient look she uses when I ask whether one wave of nausea has become two. “Actually okay.”

“You could’ve called me earlier.”

“I know. I needed time before I could talk about any of it.”

“Do you know how much I worried?”

“I know that too.” Her voice softens. “I’m sorry.”

His eyes finally move to me, flat and direct. The truce is over. “We should talk.”

“Yes.”

Elena gathers her tea and phone.

“You don’t have to leave,” Cliff says.

“I’m aware.” She meets his eyes, her voice steady. “I’m giving you privacy because I think you need it. Dominic isn’t asking me to disappear while you discuss my life.” I stay silent, letting the words stand as hers alone.

Cliff’s mouth tightens. “I would hope not.”