I tried not to turn every odd moment into a question.

His therapist hadn’t started seeing him yet, and the child advocacy counselor had been very clear: don’t make him tell the story again just to satisfy my own need to understand.

So instead, I asked if he wanted to help me fix the wobbly cabinet handle.

He nodded right away.

We carried the screwdriver into the kitchen together.

Finn held the new screw while I tightened it down.

He watched the metal spin, then asked why the old one had gotten loose.