Page 223 of Say My Name

“We also disagree efficiently,” I add.

“That sounds exhausting,” Cliff says, but without the sharp edge from before.

Elena reaches beneath the table and hooks her foot around my ankle. “It has benefits.”

I look at her.

She takes a bite of her sandwich with an innocent expression that convinces no one who knows her.

Cliff definitely sees that.

He sees the rest too. Elena asks me to bring her cardigan when the apartment gets cold. I retrieve the gray one without asking whether she’s sure. When she says she’s full, I close her food container and slide it into the refrigerator rather than telling her to eat more. When I offer to carry a box upstairs, she says she has it, and I let her.

She never becomes quieter because I’m in the room.

She corrects me when I tell Rachel the prenatal notebook is organized.

“It was organized,” Elena says. “Then Dominic added color-coded tabs without proper authorization.”

“The tabs make the urgent questions easier to find.”

“They’re all urgent to you.”

“That’s inaccurate.”

“You asked the doctor whether the building’s emergency power system covers the ultrasound equipment.”

“It was a reasonable question.”

Cliff’s mouth twitches.

After lunch, Sophie pulls Elena toward the guest room to settle the missing-sock controversy. Theo climbs into my lap with a book, and Rachel begins gathering empty containers from the table.

Cliff looks down the hall after his sister.

“She’s still herself,” Rachel says.

He turns to his wife. “I know.”

“You’ve been checking since we arrived.”

“I’m allowed to look at my sister.”

“You’re looking for what this costs her.” Rachel lowers her voice, though Elena and Sophie are arguing too loudly to hear us. “She’s happier. She lets people help her. She hasn’t made herself smaller to be with Dominic.”

Cliff’s jaw tightens as he glances at me, irritated that I heard.

Rachel continues clearing the table. “You wanted to know whether she was safe with him. Watch her.”

A few minutes later, Cliff asks Elena if they can talk alone.

She takes him into my study and closes the door.

I fight the instinct to stay near the door, close enough to hear if her voice changes. Instead, I carry Theo and his dinosaur book to the living room while Rachel helps Sophie choose a movie.

Elena asked for privacy, so I give it to her.

Almost fifteen minutes pass before the study door opens. Elena’s eyes are damp, and Cliff’s face is drawn. She walks directly toward me and slides her hand into mine.