Too loud.
Every face around the table turned toward me.
I pressed my lips together.
“Sorry.”
Nora looked worried.
Martin looked offended on behalf of blue.
I tried again.
“I’m sorry. Please continue.”
He did.
That was the problem.
He continued explaining the emotional intentions of color while the laugh climbed higher in my throat.
I thought of Molly.
Not the hospital.
Not the phone call from my mother.
Not the black dress hanging at the back of my closet because I could not decide whether keeping it was practical or deeply strange.
I thought of the last text she had sent me.
Rude. I was going to offer you free food. Tomorrow, then.
Tomorrow, then.
I had read it so many times that the words no longer looked like language.
On the screen, Martin returned to Ocean Confidence.
“This one feels more inviting.”
I laughed again.
Nora touched my arm beneath the table.
“Ellie?”
“I’m fine.”
The laugh became a second laugh.
Then a third.
I covered my mouth.
Martin stopped speaking.
Everyone looked at me.
