He was quiet.
Then he asked the question I had been dreading.
“Are you involved in this?”
I hesitated.
Not because I had anything to hide financially.
Because I knew he meant something else.
“Karen and I are friends.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
I stared at the wall.
“Daniel, I care about your mother.”
He went silent.
Then he said, “Oh, God.”
“Nothing has happened.”
“But you want it to.”
I couldn’t answer.
He gave a bitter laugh.
“Unbelievable.”
“Daniel—”
“No. I need to go.”
He hung up.
I called Karen immediately.
She answered on the second ring.
“He knows,” I said.
“Knows what?”
“That there are feelings between us.”
She was quiet.
“Michael must have told him.”
“What do we do?”
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Karen said, “We tell him the truth.”
I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me.
“Okay.”
“And we don’t let Michael decide what that truth means.”
