“Claire… I think it would be better if you went to your parents’ house on weekends,” he said, the words careful, almost rehearsed.
She froze, knife hovering above the cutting board. “Excuse me?”
Daniel finally stood, rubbing his hands together as though stalling. “It’s about Ethan. Samantha doesn’t want him around you anymore. She says it might confuse him.”
Claire dropped the knife onto the board and grabbed a dish towel to dry her hands. “Confuse him? How? Ethan and I get along great. He loved that volcano experiment we did last weekend—he wouldn’t stop talking about it. And he eats my cooking without complaining. What’s confusing about that?”
Daniel sighed, running a hand through his graying hair. “I know. I know. But Samantha says now that we’re married, it feels different. She doesn’t want Ethan thinking you’re replacing her.”
“I’m his stepmother,” Claire said slowly, almost testing the word on her tongue.
“Exactly. But you know how Samantha is. She threatened to cut back my visitation if I don’t cooperate. Please, Claire. I just want peace.”
Her chest tightened. “So your solution is to kick your wife out of her own house every weekend?”