I could miss Matthew and still know I had made the right choice.

Mabel didn’t need me to be invulnerable.

She needed me to be honest about sadness without making her responsible for healing it.

PART 17

A month later, Mabel surprised me by asking why grown-ups sometimes make promises they don’t keep.

We were folding towels on the living room floor, and the question came as casually as a request for another cookie.