Chapter 2

Grace was sitting closest to me. She clearly heard what I said, because she glanced up at me.

"Simon got out of school early today. He came home starving and couldn't wait for you to get back and make dinner, so I had Andrew cook a few things."

She leaned around me to look at the dining table.

"He hasn't cooked in ages, so I guess he didn't make enough. There should be enough left on the plates to hold you over. If there isn't, there's some snacks in the pantry. There's no point making a whole meal for one person."

I forced a smile. "Alright. Go back to your game."

The hunger gnawing at my stomach vanished. I rolled up my sleeves, cleared the table, and started washing the dishes.

Madison must have heard the water running, because she came out of the bedroom eating an apple.

Still thinking about what Simon had done, I turned to her. "Did you tell your parents what happened at school? Didn't they punish him?"

"I told them. They talked to him."

I grabbed a dish towel and dried my hands.

"Did it actually get through to him? Something like this calls for more than a quick lecture. It wasn't some harmless prank. He lifted a girl's skirt and tried to pull down her shorts. That's sexual harassment. If no one stops this behavior now, it could turn into something much worse later."

Madison rolled her eyes.

I could tell she thought I was overreacting, but I kept going.

"And your mom needs to be more careful about what she watches around him.

"Half the shows on TV are filled with sexual content. Some of it is uncomfortable even for adults. If he keeps seeing that stuff, he may start imitating it.

"He shouldn't have unlimited access to electronics, either. There's all kinds of inappropriate content online, and he's too young to understand what he's seeing. It would be easy for him to pick up the wrong ideas.

"Honestly, he probably got the skirt thing from something he saw online."

"Peter!"

Madison's temper flared again. She spat the bite of an apple into the trash.

"Are you ever going to drop this?

"You keep going on and on about the skirt. I already told you he was punished as soon as he got home. Simon promised he wouldn't do it again.

"What else do you expect us to do? Beat him? You'll have to ask my parents whether they're willing to go that far!"

Madison's raised voice drew everyone's attention. Grace immediately shot me an annoyed look, while Andrew walked over to Simon and ruffled his hair.

"It's not that serious. Schools overreact to everything these days. He's just a kid. He didn't mean anything by it. He was only curious."

Apparently realizing he should at least make some effort to smooth things over, Andrew added, "Simon, tell Peter you won't do it again, alright? Save that kind of thing for when you're older. Once you're an adult, nobody can stop you."

I didn't even know how to respond to such a halfhearted lecture. I shook my head and went to the bedroom.

Zoe was working on a poster for school. I watched her for a moment, then picked up another poster she had already finished.

"Did your teacher assign two posters for the weekend?"

"No. That one's for Uncle Simon. I finished mine a while ago."

"I see." I patted her head, sat on the edge of the bed, and watched her continue drawing.

The serious concentration on Zoe's young face eased some of the tension inside me. I let out a quiet breath and reminded myself to stop getting involved in problems that weren't mine.

As long as Zoe was healthy and safe, that was all that mattered.