No, she had simply told Suzy she’d miss her, had squeezed her extra tight before the teachers came, had maybe cried a little herself, tiny tears escaping past her lids and wetting Suzy’s cheek as she pressed the child against her.

“They’re thinking she should wait another semester before starting, and I already put down the deposit!” Mr. Keller had said to his wife that evening over whiskey tumblers in the kitchen while Annie cleaned up the toys scattered around the back porch.

“Well, I was the one who told you to get the house closer to town so she could be more socialized,” Mrs. Keller had yelled back, slapping the table with the edge of her palm.

“I’m not trying to blame anyone, Belle, Jesus.” He had polished off his whiskey then and sat back in the chair, hands folded over his belly. “Do you think this has to do with the Georgia incident? Maybe that traumatized her somehow.”

Mrs. Keller’s voice had gone flat. “No, I think we’ve all moved on from that. It’s not like Sue was privy to any of that anyway. Georgia left the day she was supposed to, just like normal.”

Mr. Keller ran a hand through his hair. “Let’s just start her out now, okay? If she’s having issues, we can pull her out, start her in the winter. It’ll be fine. She’s potty trained, so we won’t have to worry about the school dealing with that, at least.”

Today, Annie watches Sue toddle to the car, holding her mother’s hand. She looks back and waves at her dad and Annie standing on the front lawn. Annie blows her a kiss.

“It’s weird, isn’t it? She’ll be back by lunchtime, but to her it’ll probably feel like a week. Kids’ sense of time is so crazy to me.” Mr. Keller shakes his head, still waving as the car starts and begins its descent from the top of the driveway.

Annie folds her arms, pinching the skin in her elbow crease until it’s purple.

Later, after Annie has cleaned the kitchen, refolded all the linens, reorganized Suzy’s closet, cut her fingernails so short one bled a tiny droplet onto her duvet, which she then of course has to re-clean, she hears the car come back up the driveway.

Mrs. Keller opens the door coughing and flings the car keys into a ceramic bowl in the foyer, Suzy on her hip sucking her thumb. She puts Suzy down, marches up the stairs without a second glance, and Annie hears the clang of the bedroom door, the scent of cigarette smoking wafting through its cracks.

In a moment, Annie feels Suzy’s arms around her leg, nuzzling her thigh. “Lunchtime?” she says, her voice small, hollow, wiping her drool and nose on Annie’s bare skin.

“Yes, baby.”