“Now you sound like me.”
Patricia almost smiled.
Then her face folded.
“Do you know what it was like watching him grab you?”
Jessica went still.
Patricia’s voice trembled.
“You weren’t scared.”
“No.”
“That was the worst part.”
Jessica frowned.
Her mother wiped at one eye.
“You looked like you’d been there before.”
Jessica said nothing.
Patricia nodded slowly.
“That’s what I saw.”
Jessica lowered her gaze.
Her mother continued.
“You knew exactly how close he could stand.”
Silence.
“You knew exactly where his hand was.”
Silence.
“You knew when everyone else should stay back.”
Jessica’s throat tightened.
Patricia looked at her.
“What happened to you overseas?”
Jessica could not answer.
Not because she did not want to.
Because there was no single answer.
Too many roads.
Too many rooms.
Too many names.
Too many things that could not be brought into a parking lot on Memorial Day.
