I also never disguised his absence as a heroic sacrifice.

As I watched Terrence stare at their drawings in his mother’s sunroom, I knew he had missed more than birthdays.

He had missed the work of knowing who they were.

PART 6

A Christmas Table With Five Empty Questions

Lorraine insisted lunch could still happen.

That was her talent: arranging an elegant table around a catastrophe and hoping etiquette would cover the cracks.

“There is plenty of food,” she announced, standing too straight beside the dining-room doorway.