“Your father and I can come.”

That was all.

She did not instruct me to forgive him.

She did not ask what I had done to provoke another absence.

She understood that I was telling her a decision, not submitting an application for permission.

I leaned against the cold stone beside the entrance and covered my eyes with my free hand.

For all my composure at the desk, I had not been prepared for somebody to ask what I needed rather than what the announcement might cost Zachary.

My parents met me at the house.