When rain arrived after midnight, the boys huddled together listening to it drum on the canvas.

They were happy.

I was cold, uncomfortable, and happier than I’d been at any expensive resort.

The more time I spent with them, the more complicated Lauren and I became.

We could speak easily about packed lunches and bedtime routines, but anything involving the past opened old wounds.

Once, after the boys had gone upstairs, she showed me an envelope containing the first hospital bills she’d paid alone.

“I don’t need you to reimburse the fear,” she said.