Nobody hears me. They just keep on talking, laughing, making light of everything. Mom is still holding Pop’s hand, while she’s joking about being hard on Billy.

It’s too much. Vesuvius is about to erupt.

I stand up. “Stop!” I yell as loudly as I can.

Conversation at the table fades to silence. Everyone, not just the Wongs and my family, but Marjorie and the Kellys, the Ahmeds and the Jacobis, all turn to stare at me.

But I am focused on Mom.

“Stop talking to him,” I say, my entire body quivering with rage. “Just stop with your stupid games already.”

Mom frowns. “What is wrong with you, Ada?”

“What is wrong with you?” I scream. “I mean, come on, Mom!”

She shakes her head, still acting puzzled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know about the affair!” I burst out.

Silence. It’s like I’ve turned everyone at the table to stone.

Afton is the first to break the spell. “Ada—”

“It’s my turn to talk now,” I say. “I’ve been trying not to talk about it all week, but I just . . . can’t pretend it didn’t happen. I’m sorry. I’m not built that way.”

“Oh, honey,” Mom says after a long moment of silence. Her expression is weird, like she’s surprised but some part of her was also expecting this. “I didn’t know that you knew.”

“Of course I didn’t know!” I glance at Pop wildly. He doesn’t look surprised, either; he looks deeply embarrassed. “How would I have known?”

“We just wanted to wait until you were old enough to understand. We didn’t want you to be hurt,” he says gently.

“Oh, god.” I glance from him to Mom to Billy and back to Pop. “So you . . . this is so messed up. I mean, I’ve heard of people swinging and playing fast and loose in their marriages, but this is messed up.”

“Now wait just a minute, young lady,” Mom says, back to her no-nonsense voice. “That’s not what we—” She composes herself. “We don’t need to talk about this here.”

“It’s all right,” comes a voice from farther down the table—Jerry, who has never looked more ready to take charge of this kind of social emergency. Beside him, Penny gives a nervous giggle, and Kate is buried in her phone, probably live tweeting the entire exchange. “I’ll talk to the waiter,” Jerry says. “We can get a different table, maybe inside. It’s too bright out here anyway.”

Without waiting for confirmation, everybody gets up, the chairs scraping as they hurriedly push them back. They all start to file out, except for Marjorie, who stays right where she was.

“Margie?” Nick’s dad asks.

She waves him off like a pesky fly. “No way, sonny. I want to see how this turns out.”