My parents called every Sunday.
At first, the conversations were careful.
My father asked about Leo’s homework. My mother asked if she could send recipes. I answered honestly, sometimes warmly, sometimes with distance when I needed it.
They accepted both.
Diane and Paul visited in October. Paul brought Noah’s old guitar, restrung and polished, though Leo was more interested in taking apart the tuning pegs to see how they worked. Diane brought a photo album and cried when Leo asked if he could call her Grandma Diane.
At Thanksgiving, we all gathered at Daniel’s workshop.
Not at anyone’s old house.
That felt important.
The workshop was a converted brick building with high windows, long wooden tables, shelves of donated tools, and walls covered with projects made by kids: birdhouses, lamps, model bridges, wooden cars, painted signs.
Leo’s Storm Helper prototype sat in the center of the room.
