Another woman overheard us.
“She told me you, and she had been doing this for years.”
I stared toward Karen.
She was standing beside Paul, a guest who’d helped carry chairs downstairs.
When she noticed me watching, she looked away.
“Excuse me,” I told Sophie.
I walked straight toward my neighbor.
“Karen, did you tell these people I invited them?”
She shifted her weight.
“I said we used to watch fireworks together.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Well, I didn’t want everyone feeling awkward.”
“So you lied.”
Her cheeks reddened.
“I thought once they arrived, you’d realize it wasn’t a big deal.”
I glanced at the people standing in my yard.
“Someone could have been seriously hurt.”
“I didn’t know the deck was that bad.”
“There was a warning on the door.”
Karen hesitated.
“I saw it.”
My anger sharpened.
“You saw it?”
“I thought it was an old notice. You leave things up for ages.”
