Chapter 2 - The Edge of the Broom
A pair of clean white sneakers stops three inches from the scattered papers.
Mark stands over them, his arms hanging loose in his crisp white t-shirt.
He does not reach down to help his wife up.
He doesn't touch the crying child.
He adjusts the silver smartwatch on his left wrist with two slow, deliberate taps of his thumb.
"What did she do this time?"
From behind the island, Diane steps forward.
Her grey hair is pulled into a tight knot at the base of her skull.
She holds a varnished ash-wood broom handle across her waist with both hands, her knuckles pale against the grain.
"She disrespected me!" Diane says, her voice rising into a sharp, piercing pitch.
"She tried to check my bank statements."
"I was paying the heating bill, Mark," Emily rasps into the tile, her cheek still pressed flat against the floor.
"She put her name on the account."
Mark takes a single step back, his white sneakers squeaking against the glossy finish of the kitchen floor.
He reaches down, grabbing Chloe by the back collar of her yellow knitted sweater.
He hauls the child off her mother like an empty coat, setting her feet down two yards away.
"Apologize, Emily, and this ends," Mark says, his voice completely flat.
Chloe pulls against her father's firm grip, her shoes sliding uselessly across the smooth tile.
May you like
"Daddy, don't," Chloe cries out, her small thumb hooking over her lower lip.
"The broom lady took the warm money."
