Eighteen Years After Ray Abandoned Him on a Dirt Road, Thomas Found His Mother’s Letter

“To the wedding, you mean?”

“Yes, to the wedding.”

“Cheryl’s going to have a seating chart.”

“Let her.” Diane set the thermos down.

“Megan asked you.”

I pulled a bent nail out of the grass beside the dock and turned it over in my fingers.

We watched the men carry the last long beam toward the flatbed.

It was the ridge beam, as wide as a man’s chest, with nail holes every sixteen inches.