Okay, I said. She'd once told me if she had my chest she'd never wear another high neck shirt in her life. I'd never made Richard feel like that, that I knew of; no, he'd spent a great deal more time making me feel like a monster. I think you've done your part, Lillian said.
But I wasn't sure what was funny, and I didn't have the courage to ask. Part of me, though I might never say out loud, had been wanting to cross this barrier, to shove it aside, to bend it, break it, ignore it. We dried our hair as best we could. Nathaniel was at the back of the kitchen by the sink, under the window that we'd once had to replace because of shotgun damage.