“Chimney.”

“I see,” I told him.

“A good roof too.”

We let him finish talking before the adult conversation resumed.

His picture did not need to become evidence of how the evening felt.

I almost agreed to cancel.

That was the part I told Mara later: not that I had remained certain and firm from the first question, but that a gentle voice over dinner had nearly made me set the request aside.

Mara believed me when I said he sounded sincere.