Lauren looks at me as though everything I do is wrong.
Your mother criticizes me.
Your brother barely speaks to me.
Now they’re turning an accident into a crime.”
Chris did not move.
“What accident?”
Megan froze.
He asked again.
“What accident, Megan?”
She looked toward my mother, then toward Lauren.
“It was one tablet.”
My mother gasped.
Chris lowered his phone.
“What did you do?”
Megan’s face crumpled with anger, not remorse.
“I wanted one normal dinner.”
Lauren stood perfectly still.
Megan pointed at Ethan.
“Every holiday revolves around him.
What he can eat.
Where he can sit.
Whether the room is too cold.
Whether something smells strange.
Lauren carries that medical bag like she’s waiting for an audience.”
Ethan buried his face against my side.
I felt something hot and violent rise inside me, but Lauren’s voice remained controlled.
“So you crushed Patricia’s medication into his steak?”
“I thought it would calm him down.”
“He is seven.”
“It was a small amount.”
“You had no idea what dose was safe.”
“He wasn’t going to die.”
Tyler made a broken sound from beside Chris.
Megan turned toward him.
“Tyler, stop looking at me like that.”
“I almost ate it.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Because Aunt Lauren stopped me.”
His voice cracked on the final word.
Chris put an arm around him.
Megan seemed to realize that her usual defenses were failing.
She switched targets.
She looked at my mother.
“You complained about Ethan too.
You said Lauren babied him.”
Patricia flinched.
“I said things I should not have said,” she replied.
“I never told you to drug my grandson.”
“You wanted a peaceful meal.”
“Not at that price.”
Megan turned to me.
“You know how exhausting this is.
You complain about Lauren checking everything.”
I remembered every careless remark I had made after a long appointment, every time I had called Lauren overly cautious because I was tired and wanted life to feel easier.
Shame moved through me.
“I have complained,” I said.
