“You still haven’t told me what the deal was.”
“No.” He sighed. “Graham’s part was telling me when Mari stopped checking every photograph. Mine was restoring this if that day ever came.”
Henry looked at Graham.
“Then tonight, he apparently decided you needed a part too.”
Graham shrugged. “I needed to get you outside somehow.”
“Then tonight, he apparently decided you needed a part too.”
I stared at both of them. “My turn to do what?”
Henry held my gaze. “See what Mari doesn’t need from you anymore.”
Marissa reached the vanity.
“Henry, why do you have this?”
Henry touched the polished edge.
“My turn to do what?”
“You told me you didn’t want it in your room, Mari. You never told me to throw it away.”
Marissa stared at him.
Then Graham quietly said, “This is where the deal comes in.”
I turned on him.
“Start talking.”
“This is where the deal comes in.”
***
Months earlier, Graham had asked Henry for his blessing before proposing.
“I didn’t give him permission,” Henry said. “Mari doesn’t need mine. We just talked.”
Henry had asked Graham one question.
“What do you love most about her face?”
Henry had asked Graham one question.
Graham’s expression had apparently soured immediately.
“I don’t know how to answer that without cutting her into pieces.”
So he told Graham about Marissa’s old habit.
Every photograph.
Every family gathering.
Every camera.
“Is it okay?”
“Can I see it?”
“Delete that one.”
“I don’t know how to answer that without cutting her into pieces.”
Henry looked at me and asked, “You remember?”
Of course I remembered.
I’d answered those questions hundreds of times.
Henry continued.
“I told Graham not to start reassuring her before she even asked. Just love her normally.”
Graham nodded.
“And Henry said if Mari ever stopped checking every picture, I should tell him.”
“I told Graham not to start reassuring her before she even asked. Just love her normally.”
Marissa stared at Graham.
