“Deal.”

He hugged me carefully, and we stood in the parking garage for a moment longer than either of us intended.

PART 17

A week later Claire Reed answered Tobias’s call.

She had been cautious at first, but when he described Jonah’s letters, she grew quiet.

“My brother never stopped wondering,” she said.

“He thought Evelyn had rejected him.

He kept that cottage for years, even after he moved away.”