She’s right. I know she is. I’m so exhausted that I’m not thinking clearly, not acting like myself. I’m running on fumes and coffee and the desperate hope that something will eventually get easier. And it’s making me do things I wouldn’t normally do. Things Ishouldn’tdo.
Like grabbing a woman’s ankles and trying to physically remove her from a vehicle.
“I know,” I say quietly. “I know. It was…not great.”
“Not great?” my mother repeats. “Not great?”
“I’m sorry! I was frustrated. I’m tired. I shouldn’t have done it.”
My father picks up his cards again. “You’re lucky she did not kick you in face.”
“She tried.”
“Good for her.”
“Whose side are you on, anyway?”
“The woman who you attack, of course.”
“I didn’tattackher, for god’s sake—”
“You pull her out of cab by her feet, Leoni. That’s attack.”
I put my head in my hands. “Can we please stop talking about this now?”
“No,” my mother says, rubbing her temples with the tips of her fingers. “We cannot. Because you need to understand this is not okay, Leonidas. You do not do this. You do not act like this. My son, treating a woman this way, I cannot believe it. This is terrible behavior. I raised you better.”
I sigh. “I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes! I know. I’m sorry, Ma.” I look at her, genuinely apologetic. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
She studies me for a long moment, then sighs. “You need to get more sleep.”
“I will.”
“And you need to find a good nanny so you stop being so crazy.”
“I’m working on it.”
“Work faster.” She stands up and refills my water glass. “And next time you see a woman in taxi, you let her have it. You understand? Or I fight you myself.”
“I understand.”
“Good.” She pats my cheek, hard enough that it stings a little. “Now eat. You’re still too skinny.”
* * *
“And then the rabbit said, ‘I’m not scared of you!’ and he jumped right over the fox!”
“He jumped over the fox?” I ask, cracking an egg into the bowl.
“Yeah! Because rabbits are really good jumpers. Better than foxes.”
Emma’s standing on her step stool next to me at the kitchen counter, wearing the little apron my mother bought her with strawberries all over it. Her blonde hair is pulled back in a ponytail that’s leaning slightly to the left because I’m still not great at hair, but it’s staying in place, which counts as a victory.
“That’s true. Rabbits have stronger hind legs relative to their body mass. Better suited for jumping.”
