“Over the door in the hallway, where his hat used to hang.”

“Then we hang it tonight.”

“Rachel has already measured the wall.

She says it isn’t square.”

“Of course she does.”

He put his hand flat on the rail beside mine.

“Everything that belongs to this house is right where it should be.”

He went inside for the level and the drill.

I set my tea on the rail and adjusted my watch strap, and it sat where it always sits now, no tighter than it needed to be.

The cicadas went quiet all at once and then started back up in the oaks.

I picked the glass back up.

I took a slow sip of sweet tea and watched the evening sun come through the branches and lie down across the grass in long bars.