Tommy, get down from there right now,” she snapped, her voice sharp enough to cut glass. She lifted him from my lap, her movements rough enough to make him whimper. Then she turned her eyes on me, blazing with a cold fire. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”

The dining room fell silent. Twenty pairs of eyes bored into me. “Zariah, please,” I started, my voice barely a whisper. “It’s Tommy’s birthday.”