“What?”

I shrugged, irritation rising from somewhere I didn’t examine too closely. “Come on, Anna. Your classmates are probably surgeons, lawyers, CEOs by now. What are you going to say? That you’re just a stay-at-home mom?”

The word just hung in the air like smoke.

I saw the shift immediately—the way her shoulders tightened, the way her mouth pressed into a thin line.

“Oh,” she said quietly. “Okay.”

No yelling. No tears. She turned back to the sink and resumed washing dishes.

She didn’t go to the reunion.

And she didn’t really speak to me for days.