A nursery.
College savings.
A car that didn’t make a grinding sound every time I turned left.
A future I had stopped allowing myself to imagine.
But something bothered me.
“Why?”
Richard frowned.
“Why what?”
“Why me?”
“I told you.”
“No.”
I handed the card back.
“You don’t spend this much money because one waiter ran into a fire.”
Richard didn’t take the card.
His daughter looked away.
That was when I knew.
There was more.
“There’s something else,” I said.
Richard’s expression changed.Emily noticed too.
“What is it?”
Richard glanced toward the people on the lawn.
“Could we speak inside?”
Every warning instinct in me woke up.
Still, I nodded.
The four of us went into the living room.
Richard.
His daughter, whose name I finally learned was Julia.
Emily.
And me.
Kevin stayed outside showing his sneakers to the neighborhood children.
Julia’s son sat with him on the porch.
