The Price of Perfection

have much

deleine's carefully preserved style.

e memories, and those

t-shirt, my mother

d her. Her face was a mask

onsense Marcus told

g around the opulent bedroom as if t

ind? After all he's d

t. "You mean for you, Mother. The

isrespectful! I was thinking

," I said. "And Leo doesn't need me a

, her voice rising. "He's a young man,

Love. That word

ivate gathering. Ostensibly to discuss some c

s there. Her eyes, so like Leo's, rak

esence, stood up during a

s the room, "it's always amusing to see peopl

d direct

istication. No matter how many ex

rtable laughter wen

ood at pretending, dear. Until their true colors sho

lear. I was the unsop

tears, of celebrating his triumphs, of be

but I kept my ex

. Done caring what