“This place looks excellent, Lily,” Damon said, looking up to give her a warm, encouraging nod. “You did a wonderful job choosing it.”
Lily smiled, but it was a small, hesitant thing that did not last.
“I wanted Mom to have something special,” Lily said.
“And she will,” Damon said, finally letting his eyes drift over to me, his smile remaining perfectly in place. “We must make sure your mother gets exactly what she wants tonight.”
The words were kind, but his eyes were flat, like gray stone under a winter sky.
I pulled my hands back into my lap, hiding them beneath the tablecloth where nobody could see the way they still shook against the green silk.
“Thank you, Damon,” I said, my voice barely louder than the hum of the heater.
He nodded once, a brief acknowledgment, before turning his full attention back to the list of appetizers.
“They have the oysters we liked in Boston, Jake,” Damon said, pointing to a line near the top of the page. “Do you remember that place by the wharf?”
