My father had liked Roger.

He’d also taught me to balance a checkbook and change a tire, and he’d said that knowing how to do something was not a betrayal of the person who usually did it.

I wished I had remembered that sooner.

PART 13: Dinner Without an Audience

Patty invited me over for pot roast that evening.

Her dining table had mismatched chairs, and the wallpaper behind the china cabinet was peeling at the corner.

“Don’t you ever want a bigger house?” I asked.