I recognized the shift.
“What are you thinking about?”
“My mother.”
The answer surprised me.
I put down my fork.
“What brought her to mind?”
“Elias.”
I waited.
“A stranger who was involved in the worst thing that ever happened to me wants to know whether I’m all right.”
He pushed a roasted carrot around his plate.
“My mother knows I nearly died and has not called once.”
Anger rose inside me.
I kept it from becoming the center of his hurt.
“Leah told her.”
“Yes.”
“She had every possible way to contact you.”
“Yes.”
Noah looked toward the windows.
“Did she ever like you?”
“No.”
“Because you’re a man?”
“Partly.”
“What else?”
“She believed I had encouraged you to reject the life she wanted you to live.”
“I rejected that life long before you.”
“I told her.”
“Did she listen?”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“Did she say things to you?”
