I tried, at first, not to worry about it, and I reached for all the ordinary innocent explanations a mother reaches for.

Maybe he had simply changed his mind about the bike and was too proud to say so.

Maybe there was a girl he was spending on.

Maybe he had found something else he wanted more, some other treasure I did not know about.

Maybe he was saving up for a bigger surprise, something he wanted to present all at once.

I lined these possibilities up in my mind like a row of comforting little candles, and for a while they held back the dark.