I confirmed the pickup time in writing, as we had agreed.

There was no fight about whose holiday mattered more.

While I prepared dinner, Tommy asked whether we could make an extra cookie box for his father.

I hesitated only a moment before handing him an empty tin.

“Of course.”

He arranged the cookies carefully, placing the largest one in the center.

Then he drew a card showing our two homes connected by the bridge he and Mark had built.

On the back he wrote, Thanks for coming when you say you will.