"I was afraid of a child doing something she can't undo in front of two hundred people who already have opinions about us." Lauren's voice shook then, the first permission she gave it. "I was afraid for her. And for me. Both of those can be true."
Emma stared at the phone. "You said my name like a warning. Sweetheart. Like I was spilling something."
"You were spilling something," Lauren said, and then hated herself with a speed that showed. "No. You were telling the truth as you have it. I don't get to be angry at you for the place you chose. I am angry at the place. I am—" She pressed her fingers to her mouth, gathered herself. "Emma, whatever is on that phone, I will hear it. I am not asking you to protect me. I am asking you not to make your father marry me or leave me in a room full of people who came to eat salmon."
Naomi, who had never liked salmon and had said so, made a short sound that might have been a laugh in a different year. "The salmon can wait. David, do you want me to take Emma home?"
"No," Emma said.