“Just tell us before,” Mason said.

“Mom tells us when meetings run late.”

“That’s fair,” Terrence replied.

“I’ll do that.”

He did.

Not perfectly, but consistently enough that the children began to believe his promises.

I watched him learn how to talk to Wyatt when a model rocket failed, how to listen while Delilah explained the unfairness of a classroom rule, how to enjoy Savannah’s stories without trying to correct every detail, and how to sit quietly beside Mason when Mason wanted company rather than conversation.

One afternoon Terrence asked me, “Do you ever wish we had done things differently?”