I saw Lena at the back table, smiling.

“My grandfather Walter believed a house mattered because of the people who could be safe inside it.

I’m grateful you’re helping us keep that belief alive.”

There was applause.

Not the thunderous, cinematic kind.

Just people clapping because they had been invited into work that mattered.

I liked it better that way.

Afterward, a little boy approached with his father.