ELENA
"I wasn't planning to go," I told Dom. "I have client sessions Thursday morning."
"I know," he said. "I'm not asking you to go. I'm asking whether you want to."
I looked at him across the kitchen. "Your mother is going. Sienna is going."
"Yes."
"And you think I should be there anyway."
"I think," he said carefully, "that you are better in those rooms than you give yourself credit for. And I think that going makes a statement and not going makes a different one."
I thought about that.
"What kind of statement does going make?" I said.
"That you're not afraid of your mother-in-law or her friends."
"I'm not afraid of them."
"I know," he said. "This is a way of letting them know."
I rescheduled the Thursday morning sessions.
The Ashford Foundation charity lunch was at a hotel
