“I just wanted to say hello and to drop off a gift,” I said uneasily, as I motioned toward the cake with my chin.

“She’s not here.”

“Could I just leave this here for her?” The man—Henry—ignored the question, staring at me with narrowed eyes. I extended the plate down toward him, but he made no move to take it.

“You said segregation is worse than the camps.”

He knew about my argument with Lizzie. Worse, he knew exactly who I was. My breath caught.

“No. No, th-that wasn’t what I said,” I stammered. “I was just trying to explain that anytime you separate a group of people—”

Henry reached for the cake, and for a split second I thought he was going to take it and give it to Lizzie, as I’d asked… But his face was red and his nostrils flared. I only realized I was in trouble when the weight of the plate left my palms.

I cried out, automatically covering my face as he threw the cake, plate and all, into a brick pillar on the front porch, right behind my head. Shards of ceramic and dense cake and sticky lemon frosting rained down the back of my dress. I turned and ran toward my car. If he gave chase, I was done. He was easily twice my size, and so angry—

“You don’t get to judge us, Nazi!” he called after me, and I was too scared to look back, but weak with relief to hear he was some distance behind me. His voice broke with frustration and anguish as he added, “Stop coming round here. Why do you people keep coming here!”

My hands were too sweaty to grip the key properly when I tried to start the car.

“Come on,” I choked out. “Please, start.”

“Mama…” Felix said uncertainly. “Mama, is that a bad man?”

The car roared to life. I pulled out onto the street and turned the car toward home.

“Something awful happened today.”

As soon as Jürgen came home from work, I pulled him into our bedroom and shut the door. He cupped my face in his palms and stared down at me, concern in his gaze.

“Talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I took a cake to Calvin’s house for Lizzie,” I whispered. “A peace offering.”

“Sofie!” Jürgen groaned as his face fell. “What the hell were you thinking?”