“Still don’t trust anyone else with a tape measure?” Lena teased.

“I trust them,” I said.

“I also trust arithmetic.”

By late afternoon, the repaired steps were level and solid.

Isaac’s wife came outside and tested the new handrail.

She kept touching it, not quite believing it was hers.

“This is beautiful,” she said.

I thought of Walter’s hands, rough from the same work, and had to look away.