“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Robert asked the boy. Andy hopped to his feet, gave Robert a mock salute, and ran out of the room. “I don’t like children.” He said to Amelia. He inhaled sharply as he immediately regretted his choice of words.
“Yes, you have made it abundantly clear that you hate children.” Amelia kept her eyes on her work as she went through ledgers and receipts from the previous day.
“I don’t hate them; I do not like them in my house. And that little boy needs to stay out of the club and away from my girls.” Robert said, pointing at the space Andy had occupied.
“Your girls need to stop giving ‘that little boy’ treats and toys,” Amelia said calmly. She never lifted her head from the ledgers to speak to him. She flipped through pages of her work.
Robert stood in
