She chuckled.
Soon she told me stories about Arthur, about the loneliness of a giant house, and about her four adult children.
The way she talked about them always felt different.
One afternoon, stirring tea absentmindedly, she sighed.
“Bradley wants another meeting with the estate lawyer.”
“That sounds important.”
“It sounds like vultures circling,” she muttered.
Then she added quickly, “But you didn’t hear me say that.”
I pretended I hadn’t.
But I had.