Leo still lived with Denise under the arrangements in force.

His caseworker remained responsible for coordinating what was approved, and the legal process continued.

I did not know precisely what my household would look like a year later.

That uncertainty no longer meant I had failed to organize it properly.

Some answers needed evidence.

Some needed time.

Some belonged to a child whose life could not be rearranged merely to give my grief a satisfying ending.

On the way home, I thought about Sunday.