Otherwise nobody will feed the moon astronauts.”

He looked at me with a grin.

“She has a better staffing plan than most hospitals.”

We stayed outside until the chalk dust made our fingertips pink and the afternoon turned gold.

PART 32

Callum had rarely talked about his own father.

I knew the broad facts: a hardworking man who celebrated professional success and treated exhaustion like a badge of honor.

One night, after Sadie had gone to bed, Callum told me a memory he had carried since childhood.