Then covered my mouth because laughing in Caleb’s empty room felt almost forbidden.

PART 14 — THE FIRST MEETING

They met in a hospital café.

Not because either was hospitalized that day.

Maya had a cardiology appointment.

Caleb drove there without telling me.

He wrote that Maya arrived carrying a sketchbook and wearing a blue scarf.

She looks like Dad around the eyes. I hate that I noticed.

Then:

We talked for two hours. She said she’s angry at him but also curious about him. I didn’t know how to explain that the Dad I knew made pancakes shaped like dinosaurs and apparently also lied to everybody.