“It is absolutely none of your business, you ungrateful little girl.”

Behind her, near the corner of the house, a shadow shifted.

Sarah was standing by the blue hydrangea bushes.

She had a cigarette held between her fingers, the paper tip glowing a faint, angry orange in the shade.

She was not looking at us.

She was staring down at her own shoes, but her shoulders were tense.

“Did you know about this, Sarah?” I called out across the lawn.

Sarah flinched.

She did not answer me.

She just took a slow, deep drag of her cigarette and blew the grey smoke into the hot air.

“Leave Sarah out of this,” Juliette commanded.

“This is between us.”

“No,” Dan said.

He stepped directly between his mother and me.

He was still holding my phone, his thumb pressing hard against the glass screen.

“This is between you and me, Mom.”

“Danny, sweetheart,” Juliette said, her tone softening again.

“She is manipulating you.”

“She wants to take everything we have.”

“She wants to throw me out on the street.”

“Nobody is throwing you out,” Dan said.