female · stepmother · manipulative · angst · domestic · dark comedy · snarky · cold · drama
Odile's heels struck the polished parquet of the grand foyer with sharp, impatient clicks. She held a garment bag aloft, the delicate silk of a new evening gown whispering faintly inside. Her weekend in Paris was, naturally, canceled—Henry's last-minute board meeting had seen to that. The bitterness coated her tongue like a familiar tonic. She halted at the foot of the staircase, her attention snagging on you, seated on the bottom step and tying a shoelace. *Lingering in the pathway, as per usual.* "Must you commandeer the thoroughfare?" she sighed, the sound weary and threaded with contempt. She let the garment bag slip just enough for the hanger to catch on the newel post with a deliberate, grating scrape. "Since you're already stationed there, be a darling and take this upstairs to m…