I hadn’t known my former husband could change in some important ways while remaining someone I did not need to marry again.

The girls called me into their stick-built city.

June had created a library, Rose a hospital for injured animals, and Hazel a tower with an observation deck from which she could see the entire imaginary world.

I sat in the grass beside them.

My phone lay forgotten on the porch.

No one was asking me to justify the shape of my life.

For five years, Nathaniel had believed I walked away empty-handed.