The turning point
The tone had started with comments about the house. Never openly hostile at first. Just suggestive, with that particular brightness that people use when they want to say something aggressive while maintaining the option of calling it a joke. Wasteful was the word Megan had used once, standing in this very kitchen, referring to the fact that Eleanor lived alone in a three-bedroom property.
Another time, at a Sunday dinner, Megan had said it was a shame such a nice place sat empty when younger people could really make use of it. The phrasing stayed with Eleanor because of the word younger, which was not a neutral observation but a careful implication, the suggestion that youth conferred a greater right to pleasure, that Eleanor’s diminished physical energy constituted a diminished claim. Eleanor had changed the subject and passed the bread and later, driving home, had felt a low, steady anger that she had not known what to do with.