Calla POV
I start: “I got married. The house changes you. Being around someone who pays that much attention —” I paused, let it sit. “It’s harder to stay small than it sounds.”
Vivienne was quiet for a moment, the kind of quiet that meant she was doing something with what I’d said rather than simply waiting for her turn to speak. Then: “He pays attention.” Not a question. A confirmation of something she already knew to be true about her nephew, spoken in the tone of someone who had watched it cause problems before.
“Constantly,” I said.
The corner of her mouth moved. “Come and find me after dinner,” she said, and walked away toward the east side of the room without waiting for an answer, because women like Vivienne Alderton didn’t wait for answers when they had already decided the answ
