“Dinner,” I said.
“I told you no guests.”
Janice turned toward me slowly. “Did she just tell you that you can’t have guests?”
Daniel hurried downstairs. “Mom, what are you doing?”
“Eating dinner with my friends.”
We ate. We laughed. For the first time in weeks, my dining room sounded like itself again.
At 8:05, Melissa marched into the dining room. “You need to wrap this up.”
The table went silent. I stood. For half a second, she looked pleased — the rules were working.